The Harlem Shake & Why It's SO Popular
Yes, we did it. Inspired by Tim Gwynn's TV studio kids doing the Internet MEME dance sensation The Harlem Shake, Winecoff Style (embedded at the end!) you know we had to make our own!
What is a MEME, you may ask? Well, I've blogged about this before but here's a quick primer graphic below in case you missed it. Oh and for those of you going to #SCASL13 and #MACUL13 - come see me present QR Codes, I'll be talkin more about them there!
So, why has this one Meme sprouted like a gajillion versions in the last two weeks? I think because it's fun & easy to film and most importantly easy to edit!
Basically, it's shot in 2 scenes, the first being one person masked dancing with people around assiduously ignoring them for the first 15 seconds of the song, then when the song says "Harlem Shake" you cut to everyone going wild dancing usually with costumes & props for a total of 30-40 seconds.
Now, schools, universities, companies, & groups across the country are filming versions. In fact last week there were an average of 4,000 versions featuring the words "Harlem Shake" being
uploaded on YouTube per day! Want to trace the MEME history? As always, I would point you to the Know Your Meme Internet Database.
While some students are being suspended for posting lewd or unsanctioned versions shot dancing mob-style on cafeteria tables, and where parents are also complaining that school is not the place to film a dance craze, this has definitely cashed in well for the original artist music producer Baauer who is getting a monetized slice with every click on YouTube and was fighting for the top 2 spots in iTunes last week. I confess, I spent $1.29 to buy the song for my iMovie editing fun!
It was reported that Psy's 'Gangnam Style' made the artist over $870,000 from YouTube alone, media watchers are speculating now how much this craze will generate for artist Baauer.
How did ours come about? We've got a big MSA (our Maryland standardized test) Pep rally tomorrow and two of my favourite 7th grade English teachers Mrs. Cullision (on right) and Mrs. Krieger (on left) emailed me with the idea (I said, Yes, please!) and of course included our super cool principal, Dr. D, last week. In his wisdom, Dr. D was firm that he didn't want us to use kids during instructional time (ie: why are students dancing & not learning when our standardized testing starts next week? or possible lewd middle school moves #nuffsaid) So we did it with all teachers voluntarily showing up in our library AFTER school! Of course I filmed it and before we did it I showed the Winecoff Elem version as inspiration and kept it showing via the LCD projector to create a Meme inside a Meme! W00t!
You can find our video on my YouTube Channel, our MurrayHill YouTube Channel, and our SchoolTube Channel.
Is YouTube blocked in your school? Here's our SchoolTube Version
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What is a MEME, you may ask? Well, I've blogged about this before but here's a quick primer graphic below in case you missed it. Oh and for those of you going to #SCASL13 and #MACUL13 - come see me present QR Codes, I'll be talkin more about them there! 
Now, schools, universities, companies, & groups across the country are filming versions. In fact last week there were an average of 4,000 versions featuring the words "Harlem Shake" being
uploaded on YouTube per day! Want to trace the MEME history? As always, I would point you to the Know Your Meme Internet Database.While some students are being suspended for posting lewd or unsanctioned versions shot dancing mob-style on cafeteria tables, and where parents are also complaining that school is not the place to film a dance craze, this has definitely cashed in well for the original artist music producer Baauer who is getting a monetized slice with every click on YouTube and was fighting for the top 2 spots in iTunes last week. I confess, I spent $1.29 to buy the song for my iMovie editing fun!
It was reported that Psy's 'Gangnam Style' made the artist over $870,000 from YouTube alone, media watchers are speculating now how much this craze will generate for artist Baauer.
How did ours come about? We've got a big MSA (our Maryland standardized test) Pep rally tomorrow and two of my favourite 7th grade English teachers Mrs. Cullision (on right) and Mrs. Krieger (on left) emailed me with the idea (I said, Yes, please!) and of course included our super cool principal, Dr. D, last week. In his wisdom, Dr. D was firm that he didn't want us to use kids during instructional time (ie: why are students dancing & not learning when our standardized testing starts next week? or possible lewd middle school moves #nuffsaid) So we did it with all teachers voluntarily showing up in our library AFTER school! Of course I filmed it and before we did it I showed the Winecoff Elem version as inspiration and kept it showing via the LCD projector to create a Meme inside a Meme! W00t! 
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