The video features the Burnaby campus in an apocalypse setting

By Graham Cook
Photos by Mark Burnham

Simon Fraser University’s version of the lip-synching video craze known as “LipDub” is set to launch on Wednesday, Oct. 31. The date is set for Halloween to reflect the zombie theme of the video, titled End of the World. The project began filming in March of this year, and was developed over the past seven months by a team of volunteers.

The video was filmed at the Burnaby campus, and saw SFU students dressed up as zombies, complete with bloody makeup and torn clothing. Those involved with the lip-synching portion started from Blusson Hall, down through the Academic Quadrangle, into the Maggie Benston Centre, and concluded in Convocation Mall, all to the tune of “Ready to Go” by Panic at the Disco and “Jumpstart” by These Kids Wear Crowns. Filming ran for an extended period of time, with a number of students remaining on campus past midnight.

Two of the project’s producers, Lorenz Yeung and Cedric Yu, spoke with The Peak about the long-awaited release. Of the length of the release process, Cedric Yu stated, “One of the things we wanted to do was release it on Halloween because of the zombie apocalyptic theme, and another thing is it took us a while to get post production going . . . some things didn’t go according to plan during the shoot, and we had to fix some things.”

Yu was referring to the plethora of problems that plagued the shoot throughout the day. Many of the student volunteers had no experience being on a film set and became restless during the long waits. In addition, camera troubles (including one reportedly being dropped) along with the weight of the Steadicams caused some delays in the filming process. Yu also added that “we didn’t have as much time as we would’ve liked for rehearsal . . . and the shooting itself was more challenging than we had intended.” Yeung mentioned that “trying to organize human relations wise . . . once you see the video you’ll see that there were a lot of people who came out for it . . . we were also quite pressed for time on the day of the shoot.”

Yeung and Yu also cited that all of the work had been done on a volunteer basis, with those involved becoming busy with full course loads and jobs outside of school.  Yeung said, “The whole project is SFU studentrun, meaning volunteer basis, no one got paid . . . we headed straight into finals right after we filmed . . . we thought, ‘we can’t reach September, so let’s go for the Halloween kind of thing.’ ”

The release of the LipDub video itself is also facing difficulties. The project was funded with $20,000 donated from the university, and final approval rested with SFU administration in order to make sure that the university’s name is not tarnished in any way. However, as of print time, the university has still not given approval for the release of the video.

Both Lorenz Yeung and Cedric Yu expressed that they felt that what was more important than the video itself was showing that students are willing to do things on a campus where many question the legitimacy of student life and activities.