The Flash mob
Cameras and Editing by Chris Holloman
Backstory…
Dr Lisa Orloff Clark isn’t just a mathematician - she’s a conjurer of spontaneously memorable teaching tools.
There’s been occasions where students have arrived to the classroom, placed their bags on the floor, opened a laptop or a tablet expecting a routine lesson on ‘just another tuesday’… They’re suddenly gobsmacked when their little curly-haired instructor struts from around the lecturn, joins forces with a few other participants, and starts in on what most may describe as musical mayhem. However, within seconds, the gaping mouths and rolling eyes become smiles and squints of amusement as they realise the song is pure genius, offering them a full revision of a stats concept they’re expected to understand for an upcoming exam.
Lisa’s originality was so intriguing that I felt it would be great to capture one of these events. So I said I was in. Taking on a kind of guerilla-style format, I placed 2 cameras and handheld another, while recording some ambient audio from the room. This all combined for a rather natural and candid recap of yet another of Lisa’s extraordinary stats-related flash mobs.
The ‘mob’sters met on a weekly basis to rehearse and contribute their time to making this latest iteration a real banger. Licensing the track from ‘I’m a believer’ (a cover by Smash Mouth in 1991’s Shrek movie), Lisa ingeniusly wrote lyrics that ties a stats concept to a song that’s almost impossible to not sing…over…and over.
WATCH the video…
and see how the Null Hypothesis plays out against the p-value in this “Do You Believe Her? ” flash mob performance (I only know what that is because of the song!).
A big thanks to Lisa, the staff at the uni who gave me space to pull this off and of course, all of the participants who created magic in the lecture hall.
Video featuring Dr Lisa Orloff Clark. Wellington, NZ
