Inside the Making of Everything Everywhere All At Once

Everything Everywhere All At Once was one of the first movies I ventured back into a theater to see. I plopped into those familiar seats with my arms full of popcorn, Sour Patch Kids, Raisinets… and no real idea of what to expect. I left not knowing how I could ever describe what I’d experienced other than simply telling people to go see it. 

EEAAO capped off its history-making rise with seven Academy Awards last night, including Best Picture, Directing, Film Editing, Actress in a Lead Role (Michelle Yeoh), and Actor in a Supporting Role (Ke Huy Quan). It serves as an inspiration to filmmakers everywhere due to its otherworldly creativity and DIY approach, which included some help from Mocha Pro and Continuum plugins. And it’s also the ultimate feel-good story about what can happen when a group of talented friends led by writers/directors the Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert) comes together to create the right movie at the right time. 

Paul Rogers has only edited two films and is now an Academy Award winner! (He also has one of my favorite friend meet-cute stories of all time.)

"I think, in a big way, the role of an editor is to be a kind of barometer of truth. Empathy was something that we discussed a lot on this film. One of the goals of the film was if people come out of this with a greater sense of empathy, that would be a huge success."

Go behind the scenes of the editing process with our top ten quotes from Paul's Art of the Cut interview, and find out how he became fast friends with the Daniels.

Although the visual effects team wasn't directly nominated for their work, they left an undeniable mark. Friend Zak Stoltz was the first member of the team and acted as a first-time VFX Supervisor. Stoltz, a director/VFX artist, and long-time Mocha user assembled the rest of the small crew (also VFX artists/directors). Together five main artists tackled over 80% of the visual effects shots from beginning to end inside Adobe After Effects. (🤯)

We had the pleasure of chatting with Zak Stoltz, Jeff Desom, Ethan Feldbau, and Matthew Waukonen (the other main artist Benjamin Brewer was unavailable) during a Boris FX Live last year. We left feeling creatively energized and wishing we were part of the group.   

Get the inside scoop on the overall process, the challenges they faced along the way, and how Mocha Pro played a lead role in their motion tracking and roto needs. 

The team also used Boris FX plugin suite Continuum to help create a highly-stylized broken mirror look. (You can see them talk about it at the 55:00 minute mark during the live stream.) Nick Harauz, Continuum’s director of product marketing, shows you how to recreate it inside an Adobe After Effects workflow.

Ready to get creative with the same tools they used? Download a free trial of Mocha Pro and Continuum.