Jak Payne steps into the future for Bastille’s new single Distorted Light Beam, opening the door to a world where tech advances allow users to explore multiple realities, as they plug-in and exist in an exalted state.

Sitting as part of a wider campaign for Bastille and as the culmination of a series of cryptic social media videos, the film takes place some years from now, where the mass adoption of a new technology have enabled consumers of the corporate giant Future Inc to fully immerse themselves by plugging into a digital world called the Futurescape.

The video follows lead actor Remmie Milner, recently featured in the hit HBO series His Dark Materials, cast as a Future Inc engineer who’s job is to service and update the software.

The extremes of the world are revealed after she discovers Bastille’s Dan Smith, the only other person not wearing a plug, and embarks on a mission to find out more before finally succumbing and following him into the Futurescape.

Shot on location in Belgrade and making full use of the brutalist architecture, Jak Payne creates an expansive and immersive world that introduces us to different layers of society and fully translates the interior experience of being plugged into the Futurescape. Payne worked closely with the Blinkink studio to design the VFX and animator Balázs Simon for the 3D shots.

"It was really great to get a brief that referenced so many of the films and genres that I love," he says. "We had such a fun time building this world for Dan and Remmie to explore, and could really draw on a lot of classic sci-fi in that development. It was great being able to go and shoot some of the amazing locations they have in Belgrade and meeting so many talented and exciting people in the process."

Blink EP Laura Northover adds that a lot of fun was had making the video. "It was an ambitious project, but Jak’s attention to detail and focus took it to the next level," she says. "The challenge was to build the world and establish its rules in a short amount of time and he really achieved that - I just wish we could now make it into a feature!"