VFX for DJ Khaled - WHERE YOU COME FROM ft. Buju Banton, Capleton, Bounty Killer

April 30 turned out to be a big day for DJ Khaled’s fan base, as the famed rapper released his 12th studio album called humbly and unpretentiously — "Khaled Khaled". Famous for outstanding collabs, the producer remains true for himself since his new 14-track album features a whole bunch of A-listers coming from various music genres. Starting with R&B and hip hop artists Lil Wayne, Cardi B, and Drake and ending with pop stars Justin Bieber and Justin Timberlake, the album lists about 30 guest appearances, which is not uncommon for DJ Khaled’s projects.

At the beginning of May, the rapper tweeted that he had already got nine videos for his tracks finished, with five more to arrive soon. FRENDER VFX studio supervised by award-winning visual effects artist Max Colt was happy to assist in creating one of these video projects — Where You Come From.

Crafting visual effects for this video was especially exciting due to the historic proportions of the collaboration. Buju Banton, Capleton, and Bounty Killer are all dancehall titans, which is enough to make the only reggae track in the album shine. But as DJ Khaled announced in his tweet, these top artists had never recorded a song together prior to Where You Come From.

So, it is little wonder that DJ Khaled entrusted the project to his time-proved videographer Ivan Berrios, who had filmed videos for "Holy Mountain" and "You Stay". And he came up with a cool idea to shoot in Jamaica, thus bringing plenty of authenticity into the nice blend of reggae music, Jamaican Patois lyrics, and cultural allusions on the background of breathtakingly beautiful landscapes. Which, by the way, might come out not that beautiful, if it wasn’t for world-class colorist Kinan Chabani standing behind a vibrant color scheme of the video.

Yet, not only color adjustments were required at the post-production stage. VFX graphics by the FRENDER team added a lot to the video’s aesthetics. The digital magicians inserted a planet at the beginning and end of the clip, kindled a fire, created parallax effects, and took care of smooth transitions within VFX production. Thanks to this professional cooperation, the audience can enjoy a high-quality video, which is never boring to watch.

Before passing to the VFX breakdown, it worth mentioning the tribute paid to the Jamaican artists, their culture and spiritual beliefs, in the clip. The video lasts 4.20 minutes, which is slang for marijuana consumption, closely associated with the Rastafari religious and social movement native to Jamaica. Now you will be able to better understand cultural references while watching the video.