The Grand Rapids LipDub (NEW WORLD RECORD)

This film is dedicated to the late Roger Ebert, who died at the age of 70, on April 4th, 2013. Ebert loved movies and even named our LipDub, "The Greatest Music Video Ever Made."

"The Grand Rapids LipDub Video was filmed May 22nd, with 5,000 people, and involved a major shutdown of downtown Grand Rapids, which was filled with marching bands, parades, weddings, motorcades, bridges on fire, and helicopter take offs. It is the largest and longest LipDub video, to date.

This video was created as an official response to the Newsweek article calling Grand Rapids a "dying city." We disagreed strongly, and wanted to create a video that encompasses the passion and energy we all feel is growing exponentially, in this great city. We felt Don McLean's "American Pie," a song about death, was in the end, triumphant and filled to the brim with life and hope." - Rob Bliss, Director & Executive Producer

Rob Bliss Events and SEF video
proudly present

in association with Creo Productions

"THE GRAND RAPIDS LIPDUB VIDEO"

LINE PRODUCER
Josh Rubino

SCRIPT SUPERVISOR
Keri Larsen Kujala

ASSISTANT TO THE PRODUCER
Melissa Dylan

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Andrew Tingley

STORYBOARDS & CONCEPT ART
Greg Oberle

DIRECTOR
Rob Bliss

PRODUCER
Scott Seven

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS
Rob Bliss
Scott Seven

FULL CREDITS ON FACEBOOK

MUSIC
"American Pie," written by Don McLean;
Produced by Ed Freeman for The Rainbow Collection, Ltd.

FACEBOOK

T-SHIRT DESIGN:

*Note: The "NEW WORLD RECORD" designation refers to size and scope, not duration.

This $40,000 production was entirely financed by the generosity of local sponsors that are listed below:

PLATINUM SPONSORS:

GOLD SPONSORS:
The Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation
The Seccia Family Foundation

SILVER SPONSORS:

BRONZE SPONSORS:

[fitzmemike]

Never heard about this till I watched “the day the music died” documentary. What an amazing video. What joy in that community. Congratulations Grand Rapids and to the filmmaker

[stevenmanchester]

12 years later. This video still is epic👍👍👍🎉😊

[denimcowboy]

Its my understanding that they had one take of this for about 9 minutes and everything had to be coordinated just right. The Mayor, various civic departments too part. Its great. I just love it when a city can come together to do something great to promote their businesses and the greatness of their city. Great job!

[KennethScottHuntley]

I have to tell you that I’ve never been to Grand Rapids, and I have no connect to Grand Rapids but I’ve watched this video easily two dozen times. And every time it kind of gets me right in the feels. There are so many characters here just giving it all for the love of their city. Everything, from the wedding to the swing dancers, the rival tv stations, the football game, the zombie hunters, the fireman and the emergency services, it all just makes me smile. So much love for their city it’s infectious. Grand Rapids is on my bucket list tour of the world because the people there must be awesome.

[independantfundament]

My Husband is a Michigander who transplanted to Milwaukee, WI for work and when this came out, he was SO PROUD of Michigan. It was my intro to Michiganders. WELL DONE

[mikaylasmith]

Born and raised in GR here. My heart swells with pride for my community and my family. This video brought tears to my eyes. No place better than here.

[alwesterfield]

I attended a convention in Grand Rapids and made it a point to walk the route of the lip dub.  My hotel was right behind the bus so I walked the bridge each day to the convention hall.  Great fun!

[JamieRobe]

Why would anyone thumb this down?  Great song, amazing community spirit to do something of the amazing massive scale, and wonderful camera work and driving!  

[yobynop]

A magazine included Grand Rapids in a list of America's dying cities. This was their resounding response.

[syphermce]

Every time I watch this I am just amazed at the epic scale they were able to pull this off. I mean, you figure they had the shut down a bunch of roads and get a ton of people to volunteer to do this. And than, to do it all in one take, just awesome. Kinda makes me want to visit Grand Rapids.

[johna]

one continuous shot.. so much coordination and so many people needing to hit their marks and know all the lyrics. They ALL nailed it.. every single person. Amazing.

[harveyh]

It's been some time since I last viewed this video and watching it again, II'm still amazed at the 'filming' feat that was accomplished. Awesome.

[stevecarey]

I still think this is the coolest thing ever put on youtube.

The story that motivated this video, makes him even more exciting.

[pfontaine]

This is truly amazing! How on earth did you do this?! Congratulations to everyone in Grand Rapids for creating something wonderful!

[jameastanwood]

Usually I start scrolling the comments while watching long videos like this. I watched every second with a grin on my face! This was awesome!

[Orthon]

Hace ya 8 años que os dí un Like y no me canso de verlo, siempre me consigue sacar una sonrisa. Gracias.

[csimarv]

I love this video... When I think about the unity and cooperation it took to pull it off, amazes me.  For someone to find something negative about it, also amazes me.

[vogel]

I enjoyed this very much, thank you. I was in Grand Rapids for a week recently as a visitor and thought it a great place; this video makes a pleasant souvenir of the excellent time I had there. Well done!

[riesuke]

すごい感動しました。
思わず涙が出てしまいました。
素晴らしい街ですね‼

元気が出ました(^^)
Thank you‼ The Grand Rapids‼