Pay no attention to the two students with a camera riding around campus blaring “Come Sail Away” by Styx on Sept. 29.

From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Greg Kort and Chris Coleman will film volunteer performers, dancers and musicians for a LipDub video to promote Grand Valley State University’s 50th Anniversary.

“We are hoping for at least several hundred volunteer performers, but we would love to see that number top 1,000,” Coleman said.

Kort and Coleman began planning the project last April. It started out as a commercial to promote the film and video program, but soon turned into something much bigger.

“It is going to be an event you do not want to miss,” Kort said.

A lip dub combines a song with a one-shot lip-synching sequence to create a personalized music video. The challenge Kort and Coleman face is attaining the one-shot footage, which is constantly moving from performer to performer.

The six-minute song is divided into 18 segments of 20 seconds each. Each segment has its own director. Their inspiration came from similar videos filmed at both Grandville High School and Calvin College.

To create a video of this magnitude, Coleman stressed the need for more volunteer performers. Students are encouraged to stop by on Sept. 29 to be in the video. Although they will not know until the day of how many volunteers they will have, Coleman said they can never have too many.

Those students who wish not to appear in the video are asked to ignore the filming if they pass one of the locations.

Long boarders, dancers, the marching band, the rowing team and Louie the Laker will make appearances throughout the route.

“It’s important to us that we reveal the diversity of activities and interests available to students at this university,” said Kim Roberts, faculty adviser and the project’s producer.

The route will begin at the Cook Carillon clock tower, circle the Student Services fountain, go across the Little Mac Bridge, travel under the Transitional Link and end at the pond by the Zumberge Library. For the last shot, Coleman said he envisioned the lawn outside of the Kirkhof Center filled with students with pom-poms in the shape of the GVSU logo, which changes into a “50.”

Coleman and Kort are holding auditions today from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the Grand River Room of the Kirkhof Center. The auditions are for people who want to be featured in the video, and any students who have any special talents are encouraged to audition.

Students who do not want to be featured but would still like to participate can come on Sept. 29. The project’s crew will tell students where to go and what to do.

“Our goal is to emphasize the inclusive nature of our university,” Roberts said.

The project gained the support of GVSU’s President Thomas J. Haas, who will appear in the video along with Mrs. Haas and Provost Gayle Davis. Other faculty and staff will also appear.

“For three hours our Grand Valley State community will come together to create this video and every single person involved will be a necessary component,” Roberts said.

Anyone interested in learning more can e-mail Coleman and Kort at [email protected] or check out the project’s Facebook page at Facebook.com/gvsulipdub.

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