00:00I always wish that life could be a musical.
00:02One person just says 5, 6, 7, 8.
00:05Together, together, together.
00:07I can.
00:09Together, together.
00:11Come on, let's have some fun.
00:13Together, we're there for each other every time.
00:17Together, together.
00:19Come on, let's do this fun.
00:21Here and now, it's time for celebration.
00:25We're breaking free.
00:29I think a lot of kids will connect to, you know, the high school experience.
00:33There's always a mix.
00:35There's usually a jock crowd.
00:37There's usually, like, a skater crowd.
00:39There's, like, a punk crowd.
00:40It's cool that this movie is, we sort of break out of those, and everyone sort of bingles.
00:44It's just about being yourself and showing other people who you really are, expressing yourself,
00:49and saying, you know what?
00:51I'm going to be who I am and who I want to be, and not what everyone else tells me
00:56that I am.
00:56When people break out into song and dance, after watching that, it gives you this energy,
01:01this rush, and it's so fessing to watch.
01:05It's like when you're driving around in the car, and the music comes on, and your whole,
01:09everything just changes.
01:10We all wish for the soundtrack to our lives, and wish that we could have a musical, you
01:14know, about us.
01:15I, I, for one, would love to, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, just break out and song and
01:20dance.
01:20All the fears together, when we reach, we can fly, no inside, we can be there.
01:28The music is amazing in this movie.
01:30I'm on you, I'm on every tale, I'm dreaming of me.
01:38Okay.
01:39Bye-bye.
01:40I'm done.
01:41This movie has every kind of music.
01:43There is hip-hop.
01:45There is salsa.
01:47Broadway show tunes.
01:48Contemporary.
01:49Jazz.
01:50Pop.
01:51Samba.
01:52Ballet.
01:52It's not just the same song over and over again.
01:56Over 600 boys and girls auditioned for the movie.
01:59The process for the actors, it was not like a traditional audition, because they had to
02:03be able to act, they had to be able to sing, they had to be able to dance, and they
02:07had to
02:07be able to connect all three of those ideas, and really bring forth an exciting and fun
02:12character and performance.
02:14For the callbacks, there was about 12 girls up for my role.
02:18The process took all day, and we all sang all day, and we danced all day, and we did
02:24our scene, and it got down to four, and me and Zach got paired up every single time.
02:31So I was like, hmm, well, hopefully this is a good thing.
02:43Once we cast the actors, we then began our recording sessions.
02:49We'd go in and sing the song the way that we heard it on the demo.
02:53Sometimes we would add different parts just to make it sound like there's a whole bunch
02:57of people, and people, which there will be.
02:59And I think I've got to say, I do not understand.
03:06I recorded it, and I got my CD back, and I'm listening to myself, like, my gosh, that's
03:11me.
03:11I've never heard myself sing, and I sang good, and I'm proud of myself.
03:23From there, they flew into Salt Lake, and we had a big table read where we read the entire
03:28script with all of the characters for the first time.
03:30It was like the first day all of the actors were present, and we played all of that music
03:34as we were going through the reading so that everybody got an idea of how the music integrated
03:39into our storytelling.
03:41And then we went into rehearsals.
03:43Oh, well, normally for a movie, you show up, and you immediately start filming.
03:49For this one, we show up, and we have two weeks of intense dance rehearsals.
03:54Left foot.
03:55That's the key.
03:55Step forward to the left foot.
03:56Left.
03:57Now lean back.
03:58It's shoulder.
04:00Hand.
04:01Shoulder.
04:02Left.
04:02This is like, cool.
04:04On top of that, I had like three hours of basketball practice a day.
04:08There you go.
04:09Most of the time, you know, when you rehearse for a dance, you show up, and the choreographer
04:14says, okay, here's the moves.
04:16This is how you do it.
04:17Now do it.
04:18And this was completely different, and that's mainly because of Kenny.
04:22Kenny is a character.
04:24Kenny is the heart of this movie.
04:26I mean, he's directing.
04:27He's choreographing.
04:28And in my case, being a choreographer, I get to invent the dances, and I get to work with
04:34the music folks and the development of the music.
04:36All right.
04:38One more time.
04:39Basically, he put on the CD, and he said, show me what you have, guys.
04:43Just do it.
04:43Let's have fun.
04:44Let's experiment.
04:45Most directors, you walk up, and you say, hey, how's it going?
04:49They give you a very polite handshake and a good morning.
04:52Kenny, you walk up to him, and he's like, what's up?
04:54How's it going, dude?
04:56You know, he just is, his mannerisms and everything about him, he's just a kid.
05:00I don't know.
05:01He has this creative way about him that makes everyone listen and respect him very much.
05:06I have two incredible associate choreographers, Bonnie Story, who I worked with in Salt Lake,
05:11Utah, on the Olympics, and Chucky, who is an incredible hip-hop dancer and choreographer
05:17from Los Angeles, choreographer of the L.A. Sparks.
05:20You know, Charles and I have been in the studio together working on something before Kenny walks
05:24in, and Charles will say to me, well, how do you think this works?
05:27And then I'll do it, and I'll feel it, and I'll go, okay, how about this?
05:30And then he'll take it another step, and then I'll take it another step.
05:33And in the end, it's a team effort, and we've all of a sudden created something amazing.
05:38Yes!
05:42All right, work, guys!
05:44Hair up!
05:46And then there's the basketball choreography, which is my favorite part.
05:55It's fun.
05:56It's basketball.
05:56We work with a coach for some of the choreography, because there are set plays that we have
06:00to run based on the lyrics, the verses.
06:03The scene, Get Your Head in the Game, it's a scene about basketball, where we incorporate
06:07some dancing equipment, so it gives these guys a chance to let out all the energy, bounce
06:12around more, at the same time, throw in some of their dance skills into the basketball rhythm.
06:18A very, very fun and exciting piece.
06:32Everyone makes it look so easy on screen.
06:39It's my fear.
06:40Don't look at my feet.
06:42They're all battered and torn up.
06:44And our job is to make it look easy on screen.
06:46Make it look like we're flowing, and a lot of work goes into that behind the scenes.
07:03Stick to the status quo is basically madness.
07:09the jocks have their own table the brainiacs the skater dudes everyone has their own section of
07:15the cafeteria they sit at everything gets crazy when people start mingling with each other away
07:23from their own group so you have brainiacs with their books going up to jocks and the jocks reading
07:28their books and thinking wow cool and then a cheerleader starts skating and it looks like
07:34madness but every single second is choreographed yeah i thought she should come this way and come
07:40out here you know every person has a specific move or reaction that they have to do and none of
07:49it is
07:50just someone who's moving to move everything has to be right straight down to the last move because
07:55if it's not then it looks sloppy and why make it look sloppy when you can have it fabulous
08:00that's cool huh that's cool my goal is to have everyone singing these songs in their head
08:11because they're already stuck in my head and uh i haven't been able to get them out
08:18it just needs to be about communicating and connecting with each other
08:27we're having a blast this is the coolest day of shooting i've ever had
08:29come on let's do this
08:32come on let's do this
08:34come on let's do this
08:35come on let's do this
08:35come on let's do this
08:36come on let's do this
08:36come on let's do this
08:38come on let's do this
08:38come on let's do this
08:40come on let's do this
08:41come on let's do this
08:41come on let's do this
08:42come on let's do this
08:42come on let's do this
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