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LIP DUB

WHAT IS A LIP DUB?

A lip dub is a type of video that combines lip synching and audio dubbing to make a music video. It is made by filming individuals or a group of people lip synching while listening to a song or any recorded audio then dubbing over it in post editing with the original audio of the song. There is often some form of mobile audio device used such as an iPod. Often, they look like simple music videos, although many involve a lot of preparation and are well produced. The most popular lip dubs are done in a single unedited shot that often travels through different rooms and situations in, say, an office building. They have become popular with the advent of mass participatory video content sites like YouTube. Tom Johnson, a technical writer who blogs about Web 2.0’s effect on communication, describes a good lip dub as having the characteristics, or at least the appearance, of:

Spontaneity.
Authenticity: The people, production and situation appear real.
Participation: “The video doesn’t consist of one person’s spectacular lip sync, but that of a group, all participating together in this one spontaneous effort, which seems to communicate the attitude and mood of the song.”
Fun: the people in the video are having a lot of fun.

Origin

Jakob Lodwick, the founder of Vimeo, coined the term “lip dubbing” on December 14, 2006, in a video entitled Lip Dubbing: Endless Dream. In the video’s description, he wrote, “I walked around with a song playing in my headphones, and recorded myself singing. When I got home I opened it in iMovie and added an MP3 of the actual song, and synchronized it with my video. Is there a name for this? If not, I suggest ‘lip dubbing’.”