shots chats to the sensational Alex Turvey about the myth and the method behind his new Cheatahs promo, Warrior

Scroll down to view Cheatahs promo and making-of film

A few weeks ago, a visitor to Alex Turvey's flat might have felt a little like Lucy Pevensie, climbing into a wardrobe. Step through the door of the innocuous London apartment and you would have found yourself in a jungle peopled with giant monkeys and lions. Narnia? Not quite - Turvey had transformed his flat into a set for his latest music video for Nathan Hewitt project Cheatahs.

This particular animal fair may not have been a trip to Wonderland, but it did bring with it a real sense of childish wonder and (re)discovery. "I had this initial idea of having him surrounded by animals in that terrible fantasy t-shirt illustration style. But he showed me all these animal illustrations he used to do as a child from when he was seven years old," says Turvey. "We got his mum to scan in all his illustrations, everything was original. We projected it in my flat onto huge white boards and just traced them exactly as they were."

It was, explains Turvey, a promo with a lot of heart. Watching Cheatahs artist Nathan Hewitt revisit his childhood doodles was an emotional experience as the team got to work constructing the set and props in Turvey's London flat.

"When he was a child he couldn't draw the arms of the monkey so he drew a big bush to hide it. And when he was redrawing it he was like 'why is this big bush in such a weird place?' And then he remembered it. It was like he was remembering all these little moments from his childhood. I think it was really intense for him," recalls Turvey.

And it wasn't just Turvey and Hewitt who invested emotionally in the project. The set build took two weeks and the prop builders Mark Connell and Omar Lado worked flat out - and for free - to get the job done.

But - as Lucy, Edmund, Peter and Susan discovered before him - you can't escape into talking-animal-paradise for ever. As soon as the shoot finished, Turvey was plunged back into the grim realities of London life. On returning from a celebratory trip to Columbia Road flower market the day after wrapping, Turvey found a gang of home tattooed-rapscallions half-inching the prop animals.

"I chased after them and one of them got away with the lynx - but that wasn't the best animal. Because I felt so overtired from shooting and I was incredibly emotionally attached to the project I felt really violated," says Turvey, half-ranting, half laughing. "They were quite unsavoury characters. I think they were a bit weird."

However, it's not the tribulations of city life that have pushed Turvey towards his fantastical, convoluted stylings. He grew up in a Cornish village, where he was drawn to the dark, playful local folklore. "I was exposed to lots of weird Cornish folklore and odd local dances that are all really costume-based and theatrical but always slightly sinister," he says.

Turvey recounts the tradition of the Obby Oss (Hobby Horse) that parades through the streets of Padstowe: "It's got a small head and a huge black cape. Women dance around him then go under the cape to become fertile. It's really terrifying. I wrote him into my first pitch but it as a bit of a long shot as no one really understood it."

An only child, little Alex would spend hours drawing in his illustrator father's studio, and his mother - a costume designer - would bring his creations to life, stitching together elaborate costumes. Little has changed, it seems, because Turvey still calls on his mother's services when a promo needs that special touch.

As well as drawing from dark childhood tales, Turvey finds inspiration from all sorts of objects and books - but rarely from film. "So many things influence me but I get scared of looking at other peoples' work - I've always been like that - so I tend not to take influence from other people. I tend to take my influence from anatomy books and strange old illustration books. I think I look at a lot of fashion and costume and textiles more than I look at film. I'm generally more inspired by animals and anatomy. Wildlife programmes inspire me, romance inspires me - I know that's a weird thing to say - theatre, textiles or fashion."

With such an eye for detail and a love of storytelling, it's hardly surprising that Turvey started dabbling in animation while he was studying graphic design. "When I was at university I always found it really hard to communicate my visual ideas through just one image. When I was studying graphic design all my teachers were from such corporate background but my images were all over the top and convoluted. So I tried animation. And I just became obsessed with this idea of becoming a music video director."

Turvey hasn't abandoned design though - his design clients include the likes of Top Man, Ford, MySpace and Nike. In the best case scenarios, he gets to combine both disciplines. When Turvey was tasked with shooting the promo for Parisian electro pop act Lilly Wood and The Prick, he also designed the band's album cover and logo. It allowed him to weave a fairytale aesthetic and owl and cat symbolism throughout the band's visual identity.

"I think that's brought design to life for me again, and I can combine it and bring it into one whole project," he muses. "It's really annoying when you get a band and the album artwork doesn't fit with the videos and the aesthetic is all chopped up."

And while Turvey can turn his hands to all manner of aesthetic styles, one thing remains consistent through his work. Tangible fantasy. Craft, in other words. "It's all dependent on the strength of your own imagination. You could have a sparkling ball hanging from nine strings. One person could see that as this incredible bejewelled planet and another person could see that as a ball on strings. I think there's a lot to be said for craft."

Cheatahs ? Warrior from Alexander Turvey on Vimeo.

Cheatahs ? Warrior - Making Of from Alexander Turvey on Vimeo.