Tribute Assembly 2016

The Tribute Assembly is one of the biggest moments in the Year 13 calendar at Middleton Grange. A hyped-up final celebration where the leavers honour the year that's been and the people who carried us through it. I was stoked to contribute 3 key pieces for the event.

First, a countdown video to open the assembly. I cut a compilation from everything we'd filmed across the year - the day we picked up a whole bunch of trash, our High School Musical run and all the random little events in between. Pulling a year of footage into a single hype reel was pretty sick.

Second, a walking-out video. Same source footage, reworked with new photos and VFX. We'd built a physical shield as part of the assembly, and I took a snap of the final product and then using masking and 3D tracking to impose all the footage onto the design. Underneath all that, a recorded version of the school song. Bittersweet, and the right way to send everyone out.

the biggest contribution was a year long project. A parody of Epic Rap Battles of History, recast as Epic Rap Battles of Middleton, with 12 or 13 of our teachers stepping into character. Term 1 was scripting and getting graphics ready. Term 2, we recorded in the studio and shot on green-screen. Term 3 was the edit. I got as close to the real ERB style as I could take it.

10 years later much older Joel can confirm it's aged poorly and is what the youth call cringe. Knowing that at the time this would probably happen, I promised it would never go online, and I'm keeping that promise. However, here's a few behind-the-scenes frames from the shoot and edit.

It was the entertainment highlight of the assembly. I also submitted it as my Digital Media class project, which netted me 12 Excellence credits towards my Year 13. Ridiculous and absolutely worth it.

A top 10 memory of my life. The year wrapped up better than I could have planned.