I’m a big fan of the saying “start with the bad news and end on a high note,” so let’s tackle the less exciting part first: It looks like we’ll have to be patient before we can get cozy on the sofa and dive into The Witcher 4. So far, all we’ve really had is that tantalizing teaser from The Game Awards 2024.
But here comes the twist—it’s not quite doom and gloom anymore! Just this past Wednesday, CD Projekt Red treated us to a detailed behind-the-scenes video exploring the creation of that six-minute cinematic wonder we saw back in December 2024. It’s worth noting this isn’t their first in-depth dissection; the day after the trailer dropped, they released an eight-minute breakdown featuring insights from the game’s director, Sebastian Kalemba.
This making-of video is a treasure trove. Loads of concept art? Check. Fascinating interviews about the intricacies of animating virtual cameras? Absolutely. The writers delve into the rich thematic ties between characters like Ciri, the village maiden she’s trying to protect, that girl and her father, and of course, the legendary Geralt of Rivia. They also touch upon the narrative threads from Andrzej Sapkowski’s Witcher stories and Central/Eastern European folklore. And let’s not forget the behind-the-scenes clips from three days of test shoots—they look like they could be outtakes from Midsommar! These scenes helped nail the nuances of lens behavior—“distortions, lens flares, blooms, how the bokeh behaves,” as described by Karol Stadnik, digital cinematographer at CD Projekt Red. With this technical magic, teamed up with Platige Image, they captured those dynamics perfectly in Unreal Engine 5 for the trailer.
Now, if you ask me, the most fascinating part of this 10-and-a-half-minute saga is how they staged the epic showdown between Ciri and the Bauk—a creature with an impressive array of attributes: goblin-like head, snaky neck, jaguar arms, scorpion pincers, and dinosaur-esque hindquarters.
Maciej Kwiatkowski, a motion capture expert known as Alpha 7, shared this gem: “We created a physical representation of Bauk’s shoulders and his attacking arms, and having four operators, we kind of re-created the whole monster. On the screen, we saw in real time a moving Bauk.”
Honestly, I’ve got a pretty sweet gig myself, but the thought of spending a day maneuvering giant props and channeling a mythical creature sounds like an adventure. Just spare me the mo-cap suit!
