Law Revue Video Contest 2016: The Finalists!
Who will win this year's Law Revue Video Contest? It’s up to you. Start voting now!
Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to feast your eyes upon the best of the best in the 2016 law revue video contest. This year, the competition was absolutely awesome — even the law schools that earned dishonorable mentions were strong.
The vast majority of these students were able to carry a tune, had excellent comedic timing, and provided us with professional-grade production values. Our finalists’ videos were a joy to watch when compared to many of the submissions of years past. Pop music and hip-hop Broadway hits from 2015 and 2016 proved to be an excellent soundtrack for this year’s law revue stylings. You stayed current, and the results were amazing. Nice work, everyone!
This year, your reviewers will be David Lat, Elie Mystal, Staci Zaretsky, Joe Patrice, and Kathryn Rubino. We issue only advisory opinions; you hold all the power.
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Who will follow the winners of years past into the annals of Law Revue history? It’s up to you, our readers! Do the right thing: vote early, and vote for the best.
Videos are listed in alphabetical order by school. Voting will close on WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, at 11:59 PM (Eastern time).
1. Georgetown University Law Center — The Robe Off
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LAT: The concept of setting Supreme Court deliberations to music is genius, and the execution was strong too; the lyrics accurately capture the different camps in Obergefell (and include a few clever, inside-the-Beltway shout-outs that you’d expect from law students in D.C.).
ELIE: The vocal skill to pull this off was impressive. But what struck me most was the creativity: a medley explaining how the vote split on gay marriage is the kind of thing John Oliver would do. It almost made me forget that they couldn’t find one freaking black guy in all of Georgetown Law to play Clarence Thomas.
STACI: I’m a huge fan of this video, but it’s probably because I’m a singer. Do you know how difficult it is to sing an a capella medley and remain in tune and on beat? It’s freaking hard, but these Georgetown students did an aca-mazing job! Justice Breyer apparently has the voice of an angel… who knew?
JOE: I don’t think there’s been a medley in my time working on this contest, so that’s cool. As to Elie’s concern, there probably were some black guys willing to take on that Thomas role, but they hand their hands full terrifying Rosenkranz and Barnett by walking around and having ideas and stuff.
KATHRYN: The writing is clever and I like the idea of a medley, but this was not my favorite video. I wish this video had more production value. Other entries really wowed with their use of sets, camera shots, and graphics, and this entry? Well, they were able to secure a moot court room, so that’s something.
2. George Washington University Law School — Outlines
LAT: Excellent entry — my second-favorite of the contest. Commendably ambitious (and strong) dancing is a highlight of this video, which has a lovely overall energy to it. The rapping is solid, and the bespectacled woman (who reminds me a little of Lena Dunham) and the blue-jacketed man should try out for The Voice. Also, props for the virtuosic, Birdman-esque camera work.
ELIE: So, here’s the thing, I feel like if black people, even black law students, were dancing this competently, it really wouldn’t have been noticed. Such is the stereotype of well-dancing African-Americans that, unless there were some white students involved, on-beat gyrations are discounted for people of color. I wanted to give law students credit for dancing well, regardless of race, but then they went and set it to a damn Macklemore song which is basically like telling me “come at me, bro.” Can I confer with my social justice warrior council before I say whether I’m allowed to like this or not?
STACI: To be honest, I hate this Macklemore song. I usually change the station when it’s on the radio. I can’t stand it, but… I do like this law revue video. Everyone can sing, everyone can rap, and everyone who tried to dance could. This may actually be the most dancing in any law revue video I’ve seen in the past five years. Nice work.
JOE: I’m getting the sense that “dancing = good, Macklemore = bad.” I’m certainly no fan, but I’ve never understood the disdain for him on the level of race. The history of popular music since the early 20th Century is about white people ripping off black people. At least Macklemore seems moderately woke to the situation. In any event, this is a fun entry that takes advantage of the song’s multiple, shifting styles to keep the video interesting.
KATHRYN: I’m a sucker for good dancing, and this entry had the best dancing of any submitted this year. But I also have an intense dislike of this song, and found myself irritated when the GW version became stuck in my head. You’ve been warned, watch at your own peril.
3. New York University School of Law — Trevor Effin’ Morrison
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LAT: If you’ve seen Hamilton, with its tale of a brilliant young man from the hinterlands who made his way to the pinnacle of power, you’ll understand the brilliance of this video. But even if you haven’t, you’ll still enjoy the singing, dancing, and great production values. This is my personal favorite of the entries. Bravo, NYU Law!
ELIE: Did you catch the Columbia diss? Did you catch the general sense of awesomesauce and talent? It’s laugh-out-loud funny. I don’t know how this is going to play west of the Hudson, but the New York school did the Broadway show parody exactly right.
STACI: Who doesn’t love a Hamilton parody? This was great! I really appreciated that this video was filmed in a single shot. My favorite part was definitely the Columbia students rubbing cocaine all over their faces. This one may be the best of them all.
JOE: Wait, Elie… “the Columbia diss”? I caught more than one. The staging was fantastic, the writing on point — this really is the ideal Law Revue entry.
KATHRYN: Okay, as a Columbia alum, this pains me greatly, but this was a very good entry. Probably the best. (God, I feel dirty writing that.) Perhaps the subject — the new NYU Law dean, the titular Trevor Morrison — is a bit too insular to Greenwich Village to garner much outside support, but it is a well done piece and deserving of its place in the finals.
Flip to the next page to see the rest of the entries and to vote for your favorite.
