OIS Student Video Goes Viral

Three OIS students were recently thrilled to learn that they appeared in a video gone “viral”. OIS elementary students Emily, Kia and Moa performed the Disney classic song, “Let It Go” in the lip sync contest at the International Fair. Emily’s cousin posted a video of the performance on her Twitter feed. The video was instantly shared on other social media platforms around Asia and the world.

The Twitter post had 188,000 likes, 89,000 re-tweets and generated 160 comments. When they put the video on YouTube, as of Friday, it had 88,170 views. The video was picked up by traditional media sites also and appeared on television shows in Hong Kong and here in Japan. It was also featured on a Korean website.

In speaking with the girls, they never thought that their performance would be seen by so many people. During a recess on the field, Emily was describing the dance she was preparing for the contest, sponsored by the International Fair committee. Kia suggested using her white sweater as snow, like the character does in the Disney film Frozen. They started laughing about it, but it eventually became part of the performance, with confetti spray being the ice and snow. It was a creative way of recreating Queen Elsa’s ability of shooting ice and snow from her hands.

The girls learned a lot from the experience, including, once something is put on social media and the internet, they lose control of it. For this time, it was for a good reason. Emily laughed when a Senri International School high school student recognized her from the video in the cafeteria. She felt a bit like a celebrity.

The experience showed me the power of creativity and the potential of the internet. 10 years ago, a performance like this would have been seen only by our community, but with social media, people from literally around the world, could see it. The girls original performance was recognized by the outside world for its excellence. Emily, Kia and Moa really lived up to our mission statement of, “contributing to a global community” and demonstrating creativity. Congratulations to them!