Everything, everywhere, all at once, is exactly what the seven-person VFX team did to achieve this cinematic phenomenon.
Over time, A24’s name has become synonymous with parallel, path-breaking entertainment. With Academy Award Winning films like Moonlight and Minari, the ten-year-old studio has become a dream collaboration for filmmakers when compared to the more established studios. In A24’s highly anticipated film Everything Everywhere All At Once, the studio decided to place their bets on the relatively new direction duo, The Daniels. Having already worked together in Swiss Army Man, A24 decided to back the young duo again and their bets paid off big time.
Everything Everywhere All At Once became the highest-grossing A24 movie ever, crossing the 100 million mark. But before the reward, came the risk. Being known as an entertainment company that championed realistic, indie stories, A24 chartered into the unfamiliar realms of science fiction with a tinge of super-heroic elements. The film revolves around Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh), a Chinese laundromat who finds herself intertwined in a multi-galactic adventure. Evelyn is tasked with jumping through the many parallel universes to identify the most appropriate version of herself and use its abilities to overcome the many hurdles she's presented with.
Considering the sheer quality of filmmaking, it comes as a surprise that the film was made on a modest budget with only a core team of five people that were responsible for most of the film’s VFX. In fact, it was Zack Stoltz’s first project as VFX supervisor. Zack had previously worked with The Daniels on their music videos and was aligned with their creative process, which was more fluid and less hierarchal. In an interview with IndieWire, Stoltz revealed that rather than following the formal process of sending files to and fro, he would take his computer to Dan’s house and camp there while the renders were going on, creating a free-flowing workflow.
This creative process came to an abrupt halt as the COVID Pandemic hit. Unable to work in a creative way that they deemed comfortable, it fell on Stoltz to figure out a way to create an environment that was creatively conducive while also safe. The team then decided to share data and files through Resilio Sync, an alternative option to DropBox. This feature allowed the team to have access to each other’s drives without physically inhabiting the same space, ultimately resuming the free flow of creativity.
Stoltz soon put together a VFX team consisting of Ethan Feldbau, Benjamin Brewer, Jeff Desom, and Matthew Wauhkonen. Most of the individuals on the core team were filmmakers in their own right and approached the film's VFX with the story’s narrative in mind. To add to this, most of Stoltz’s team was self-taught, and it was only through sheer tenacity and drive that the small team managed this Herculean task.
An important aspect of the workflow was the division of tasks based on individual specialization. When Stoltz put together a team, he didn’t approach VFX artists; he rather picked out filmmaker friends who he had worked with and was familiar with their creative strengths and weaknesses. One of the first people that came on board the project was Ethan Feldbau. Ethan worked as a production designer on a few of The Daniel’s early projects, hence cementing the creative synergy between the core creative team.
Once it was established that two people would not be enough to pull off over 500 VFX shots, Ben Brewer and Jeff Desom were added to the team. Jeff and Ben both specialized in 3D-oriented systems creating contrast in skill sets and abilities, thus determining which task would go to whom.
Given the scale of the VFX in the film, it was shocking to discover only 7 people were credited for the entire film’s VFX. This was a conscious decision taken by the team to avoid over-expenditure and also maintain, close informal contact making it more creatively fluid when compared to a more typical post-production workflow.
Everything Everywhere All At Once, spun traditional norms and misconceptions attached to VFX-heavy films by achieving over 500 VFX shots by a team that can be counted on fingertips. Using their financial constraints as creative stimuli, the team had a simple yet effective approach. Save and spend money on the big stuff. The VFX team along with the directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert were extremely hands-on with the smaller nitty-gritty details of the film.
When broken down, the films mind-blowing large-scale sequences were accomplished through the sheer genius of the team. For example, the time jump sequence was footage filmed by Daniel Kwan as he strapped on a 4k camera and roamed around the streets of New York. This footage was then played on LED screens and projected on Michelle Yeoh as she jumped through the various multiverses.
It comes as no surprise that Everything Everywhere All at Once, broke a lot of records everywhere. The process behind this achievement aligns with A24's general ethos — films are told with passion, not corporate templates.
“I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying” – Woody Allen