Together creating a glimpse of the confusion late night Shoreditch scabholes contain within. Here Stern gives us a glimpse into his interpretation of Kele Okereke's deliberations on the dark side.

D&C: What were you first impressions of The Prayer
Walter Stern: I was sent the track through the normal procedure of a video commissioner - in this instance John Hassay. I liked the track for the most part on first hearing (I usually get bored of songs that are instantly catchy). It has a strange mix of musical elements that on first play seemed to almost work but not quite. A couple of days later, it was this that kept bringing the track back into mind. I also very much liked Kele's fragmented vocal, singing from the point of view of a specific character. This seemed brave because if you take it on face value, it is not something that I imagine you would want to identify with as it does not come from the typical heroic stable of songs. The vocal seems to come from an internalised, self doubting perspective and at times almost appears foolish. This is more interesting to work with.

D&C: Did you immediately form some sort of idea for the video?
WS: The first images for the video came from the song's suggestion of a hedonistic trip and I knew the band wanted to base it in and around a central east London scene. As the track seems to be sung very much in character and the lyrics are quite clear, it seemed the right, or perhaps only, road to go down. Also I like the irony of the title The Prayer relating to the desire of a hedonistic night out. However, first images are usually just that and I don't trust them too much. Its usually a cliché or too abstract. So I try and avoid that and think of a theme or central idea that can be adapted to a location and a cast I don’t know. As it turned out though, I had been to this location – Café 1001 off Brick Lane – before and so felt quite comfortable setting it there.

D&C: Where there any tricks you used to try and convey the atmosphere of the song?
WS: As a way of visualising a night out, I had this idea to melt the film on which it is shot. In the video we see their night literally melt away as everyone sets out to consume - drugs, drink and each other. You can see it in the architecture as well as on their bodies.

D&C: Did those ideas work to create the story you wanted?
WS: The video is intended to be viewed in a satirical way. The club itself is half empty rather than 'rocking' and many are too tired to move. As well as the few that could dance well, many were cast for their strange or non musical moves; even the band are apathetic. As the night gets underway, the club becomes something of a fairytale landscape, changing from something of a documentary look to one that is more fantasy based. Kele's 'brave' journey to become somebody else results in an illusory, mystifying and eventually unsatisfying experience. This was the thread for the video.

D&C: What were the main difficulties you came up against?
WS: Well, it's always time, both during and after the shoot. We had two crews, one shooting melting film, and the other shooting the main action. So it was tight but we got just about everything. The difficulties expanded in post production as each melting effect had to be pieced together using different techniques. I would like to have taken it further and different endings were shot but time has it limitations. It certainly could be a lot more extreme but I do feel the way it came together on the day, performance wise- considering we had not worked together before – really made it come together.