OT: Soundtrack for high school seniors' video

TarHeelMom

TarHeelMom

Cathlete
Hi folks! This is totally OT but I know you're a diversely educated crowd who I KNOW can help!

My son's high school senior class is putting together a 30-minute video about their class' high school experiences, and the committee of kids has been floundering around, frankly. I've got a little experience doing this kind of video thing, so I was asked to step in and act as shepherd. Fun, but yikes!

We're getting plenty of pictures, but I'm coming up real short on music that can accompany the video. I've got 30 minutes -- maybe more -- to fill and the music needs to be clean so that all family members (read that: grandparents, especially :)) can see the video.

Ideas???? Song and artist, please -- I'm afraid I'm pretty stuck in the 80's and earlier in terms of my personal knowledge!! ;-)

P.S. to my pal Debbie H. -- girl, I've got your Leeann Womack song front and center (and I'm sure I'll weep all the way through it!)

http://www.click-smilies.de/sammlung0304/sport/sport-smiley-003.gif Kathy S. http://www.click-smilies.de/sammlung0304/sport/sport-smiley-001.gif
[font color=green]2005 Worked Out With Cathe Days 25/50/365
 
Hi Kathy!

I love these songs for Sr. slide shows:

These Are the Days - 10,000 Maniacs
Blackbird - Beatles or Sarah McLachlan

If you're looking for different songs to go with different themes:

Centerfield - John Fogerty (Put me in coach...) for sports pics
Dancing Queen (ABBA) or Hey Mickey (Toni Basil) for cheerleading/drill team
Wonderful Tonight - Eric Claption for Prom/Homecoming
ABC (Jackson 5) for scholastics
Beautiful Day (U2) for Graduation
 
i would recommend flipping your radio to a popular top forty station for a little while. it will give you examples of songs that are popular right now with kids. some old songs work really well for these things, just make sure it's a really well known song.
 
Hmmm-tough job Kath! Off the top of my head came:

"We Are the Champions" by Queen. Here are the lyrics:

I've paid my dues
Time after time
I've done my sentence
But committed no crime
And bad mistakes
I've made a few
I've had my share of sand
Kicked in my face
But I've come through

And we mean to go on and on and on and on

We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting
Till the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions of the World

I've taken my bows
And my curtain calls
You brought me fame and fortune
And everything that goes with it
I thank you all
But it's been no bed of roses
No pleasure cruise
I consider it a challenge before
The whole human race
And I ain't gonna lose

And we mean to go on and on and on and on

We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting
Till the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions of the World

We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting
Till the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions

Another:
"Circle of Friends" by Point of Grace (This is a Christian song.)

Let me think on it some more.

Your-Friend-In-Fitness, DebbieH (AKA "Den Mother Debbie")http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/wavey.gif[/img] If You Get The Choice To Sit It Out Or Dance...I Hope You DANCE!!!
 
These are some songs from my High school years:

"Time to Remember" - Billy Joel
"End of the Road" - Boyz 2 Men

Also:
"Graduation Day" - Vitamin C
"Everybody's Free to Wear Sunscreen"-Baz Luhrman

and a classic: "In My Life" - The Beatles

I'm a high school teacher and things like this can be so much fun! Enjoy!


Peace, Love, & Muscles
 
How about "Don't You Forget About Me" from The Breakfast Club soundtrack? I wish I could remember who sings that.

Or, "I Will Remember You" by Sarah McLachlan (sp?)

Erica
 
"Don't You Forget About Me" is by Simple Minds (self professed child of the 80's). Forgot about the Sarah McGlaughlin song!

Peace, Love, & Muscles
 
I've made 2 such videos now--one for a school my daughter attended (5th grade graduation), and one for a school that hired us to do it for their seniors. That was a neat one because they showed it to the kids for the first time in a movie theater.

That Sarah McLaughlin song is good but only for the very end, and only if you want everybody bawling at that point. ;-) Another excellent but often used ending song is Green Day's "Time of your Life". The Vitamin C song someone mentioned is a good pick and was written with graduations in mind.

A lot of the songs suggested here are 70s and 80s which is cool but may not be as cool to your kids. I find the best starting place for ideas *is* your child -- and then I look up the lyrics online to be sure there isn't anything offensive in them.

A couple of quick suggestions:
1. Use a program like Mp3 Gain or other sound leveler so that all the songs are about the same volume.
2. I like to run the pictures at about 4 seconds each and use a minimum of text--just enough from time to time that people know what they're looking at. Most of the time, I use the picture full frame because that's what the kids like the best.
3. Putting this together takes a TON of time--work on a piece of it everyday so you get done ahead of schedule, and without rushing.


Lisa
 
Hmm, wouldn't the kids prefer more modern music? My son is 13 and looks at me askance if the radio is tuned to anything that isn't hip-hop or gangster-type music. Even my 6 year old rolls his eyes when I am listening to "my" music. lol


Good luck... let us know what you pick.

Cheers,
Marie
 
Lisa!

Many, many thanks -- you've made some terrific concrete suggestions, in particular about the sound leveling. I don't possess elaborate software -- I'll either have to do this on Power Point or on IMovie on my son's Apple IBook. Our school is tiny and we don't have enough seniors to leverage the cost of getting it professionally done, so what I've got plus my ingenuity will have to suffice. :) Mind if I e-mail you from time to time with questions??? :)

http://www.click-smilies.de/sammlung0304/sport/sport-smiley-003.gif Kathy S. http://www.click-smilies.de/sammlung0304/sport/sport-smiley-001.gif
[font color=green]2005 Worked Out With Cathe Days 28/53/365
 
Marie and Lisa --

I totally understand your point about the music. Marie, I get that eye-rolling thing all the time, whether I'm listening to Sinatra or Mellencamp or Springsteen. It's all the same to them.

Before posting here I'd asked my teenage sons, both of whom are into rap and stuff like that, so their only suggestions were a Tupac song called "Changes" (not too bad, actually) and "please, Mom, do NOT use that Green Day song." (We actually used "Time of Your Life" very effectively in their grandfather's 80th birthday lifetime tribute video, so unfortunately that tainted the song for my kids. ;-))

I do plan to meet with a committee of seniors next week to canvass for ideas, but I also think that for a video that parents and grandparents will see, we'll have to compromise on some things. So I thought I'd get a running start with a good list of classic songs that fit this kind of mood. They may not pass what my senior calls the "cheese test" ;-) ultimately, but I'll put them out there and see what the kids think. They might surprise me!

http://www.click-smilies.de/sammlung0304/sport/sport-smiley-003.gif Kathy S. http://www.click-smilies.de/sammlung0304/sport/sport-smiley-001.gif
[font color=green]2005 Worked Out With Cathe Days 28/53/365
 
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