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I think that is what made it work out so well.” With this kind of video, when you are just taking the piss and having a bit of a laugh, if they don’t really go all out and really really get into it, it can look really really awkward, but from the very beginning they were giving it everything. Sometimes when I’m doing narrative videos it takes a while for artists to find their comfort zone.
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Discussing the filming itself, the director was full of praise for the group: “I was really surprised at how natural they were. Having Tierney take full control of the video allowed the group to focus on their performance. Trinity Hall residents happily provide the necessary slow motion dancing, while the Trinitones themselves are dressed in oversized jerseys and furs. Filmed in the squash courts of Trinity Hall, R Kelly’s nightclub appears to be something more of a teen disco. If R Kelly’s video is quintessentially 1990s, the Trinitones’ version aims to be quintessentially Trinity.
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For Tierney, choosing “Ignition” meant choosing “the most quintessential 90s outrageous video. This year, a parody of “Ignition” will provide the Trinity students with exactly the narrative they were looking for. Indeed, it is a way for them to visually encapsulate what it felt like to be a part of the band. Making videos is a distinct way for the members of Trinitones to remember their time singing with the group. But then, we were watching the video, and that stupid shot of the head rotating happened, and Rob was like ‘no, we need to do a parody’”, Neil Dunne, this year’s director of the band tells me. We always just think about Trinitones as a group need to achieve something in a video when there is a story involved because “Dirtbag” had no story. “We thought through a few ideas, and we didn’t think along the parody line until last minute. Surprisingly, “Ignition” was not the initial obvious choice. Having previously released covers of the likes of “Teenage Dirtbag” and “Stacey’s Mom”, the group were ready for a new approach to their videos. It’s nice to be able to have a bit of fun with a video rather than it being a real serious narrative thing.”įor the Trinitones, having such a well-known Dublin director involved in the production was something to get excited about in itself. But sure look, there is a first for everything. Speaking to Tierney, however, it is evident that he wholly enjoyed the deviation from his tradition style of work: “I never thought I would be making a parody of R Kelly’s “Ignition” set in a school disco. Having recently worked with the likes of James Bay and Gavin James, one would naturally assume that Tierney would have been slightly apprehensive to be working with a group of students. In undertaking such an infamous song, Trinitones decided to enlist the help of Dublin-based music videographer and director Christian Tierney.
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This evening, they will release their own video version of “Ignition”, with their own unique Trinitones flair. In their ongoing efforts to maintain their notoriety, the group has recently decided to take a new direction with the content that they produce. The group has earned their success through singing largely popular songs in acapella, a tradition that remains quite new to the Irish music scene. Formed in 2012, the all-male acapella group has had considerable success in recent times, being the opening act for Trinity Ball and playing to crowds at Electric Picnic. In the recent RTÉ documentary, Inside Trinity, Robert Sommerville of the Trinitones noted that the group has a bit of a “bad boy reputation”. Somehow, 14 predominantly white male undergraduates from Trinity do not naturally make their way into my mind. The dance floor is filled with dancers filmed in slow motion, and there is an occasional white fur coat to be seen. There is a long gold chain hanging from his neck, and Nick Cannon is behind him on decks. When I think of the “Ignition” music video, an image of R Kelly in an oversized Celtics jersey is conjured up in my mind.
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