Strong local input to music video filmed at Mercy Heights

A NEW music video for the Berlin-based artist ‘delush’ was filmed at the former Mercy Heights secondary school in Skibbereen.

As a former music student at Mercy Heights, Gráinne Dwyer – alongside the video’s director Ignas Laugalis – was delighted to be back on familiar ground for the production. She said they had been doing a location ‘recce’ for a commercial shoot when they saw the building’s potential to be used for something more artistic.

Ignas said the sense of history in the building was palpable and he lost no time in mentioning it to the musical artist, delush, with whom he had been working.

What makes the production even more remarkable is that it features a wealth of local talent: Taylor Graham, a New York-born dancer, who is now living in West Cork, is featured in the video. Taylor performs alongside a young Skibbereen actor, Alex Ring, who was accompanied on set by his mother Joanne.

The costumes were handcrafted by another local talent, the award-winning. Alice Halliday, and Kim Doran, also from Skibbereen, was the make-up artist.

Gráinne, who was the production designer and producer, spoke to The Southern Star about how supportive the community of Skibbereen proved throughout the shoot.

Lots of local businesses helped, she said. The crew sourced props from Sean Murray’s and O’Sullivan’s Toystore. Kalbo’s did the catering. And a fantastic group of local talent came together to make something special.

Working with delush on his ‘Guess we got a problem’ video also proved to be ‘an amazing experience,’ according to Gráinne.

Due to Covid-19 restrictions, he could not be on set during filming, but he offered tremendous support throughout the production.

The track is available on Spotify and the video will be released in a number of weeks.

Gráinne thanked the team at the Ludgate Hub in Townshend Street for giving them the opportunity to film at the Mercy Heights building before work starts on converting it into Ludgate II.

The plan is to make Ludgate II – a 10,000sq ft multi-use building that can be used by over 100 people engaged in community, corporate and educational events, as well as start-ups, entrepreneurs and remote workers – ready by the summer of 2021.