How Did Daniels Achieve the VFX in 'Everything Everywhere All at Once'?

Daniels want to take you on an interdimensional journey.

Here at No Film School, we've been covering Daniels for years. It's been amazing to see two geniuses take their budding filmmaking career and turn it into something they can not only be proud of but also something that pushes filmmaking boundaries. Their new film, Everything Everywhere All at Once, takes us on an amazing journey through the multiverse in totally unique and creative ways. 

For the film's release, directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert sat down with visual effects artist Zak Stoltz via WIRED. They talk about the special and visual effects used in the new movie. The sci-fi vehicle has a distinctive take on the action genre.

Stoltz and Daniels explain how their small budget forced them to get creative to create something truly unique. Check out this video from WIRED and let's talk after. 

How Did Daniels Achieve the Visual Effects in Everything Everywhere All at Once?

If you haven't seen this movie, stop reading and go watch it. Seriously. It's one of the most creative and emotionally jarring and interesting and just technically bonkers achievements I have seen ever. Not just recently. Ever.

To do some of the more complicated shots, the A24 indie movie had to rely on a team of five people to complete 500 visual effects.

So how did they get it done? 

Well, Daniels relied on their previous work in music videos. They knew that even with a limited budget, a little ingenuity goes a long way. They combined practical effects like puppets, wires, and camera tricks with CGI, LED screens, green screen, and various other visual effects to help sell Michelle Yeoh's journey within the film. 

The philosophy was simple: spend money on big effects for big scenes, and try to save and work smarter on the small stuff. 

For instance, for when Yeoh's character is flying between dimensions, they decided to shoot their own B-roll in New York. They used a camera with an open shutter speed and angle to make everything blurry, then walked around the city. They cut together that footage and had Michelle act in slow motion while it played on LED screens beside her. Wrapping around the whole thing was a green screen they used to layer in other effects and some of the footage to make her flying complete. Then they sped the whole thing up. 

Another clever idea was how they did the first verse jump. They had Yeoh sit in her office chair, which was actually in a wheelbarrow. Then they pushed her backward very slowly, shooting in real time. They cranked the shutter on the camera open, and used a leaf blower to make her hair move fast. Then in post, they sped everything up again, making this look chaotic as she goes back into a closet, but really it was just a few neat tricks. 

Thanks to the mix of practical and VFX elements in every scene in the movie, the actors were able to react to mostly real things. This grounded the performance and the movie. 

Have you seen the film? Did it also blow your mind? 

Let us know your thoughts in the comments.