Image credit: CD Projekt Red/CD Projekt
As an observer, figuring out how the teams behind cinematic trailers work their magic is utterly fascinating to me. Cinematic trailers aim to get fans excited about upcoming games and hint at key moments, while skirting around any spoilers.
I sat down with one of the minds behind The Witcher 4’s reveal trailer, cinematic director Tomek Suwalski, diving into the craftsmanship behind the piece and what it takes to make an impact on an audience.
Bringing beautiful trailers to life
Ever since seeing the cinematic reveal trailer for The Witcher 4 popping up online after The Game Awards 2024, I’ve been eager to see more of the vibrant game world that the upcoming title promises. To learn more about the trailer, I sat down with Tomek Suwalski, cinematic director.
When he found out that he’d be working on the cinematic reveal trailer for The Witcher 4, Suwalski noted that, naturally, he was excited.
“The pitching was a lengthy process, and the competition was fierce, so finding out CDP decided to proceed with me on board was really awesome,” he explained, “I knew we’re about to create something special and long-awaited, so yeah, excitement and happiness.”
I was curious what the first steps were when building out the project, and Suwalski picked apart the process piece by piece, explaining that it was all built around narrative.
“First thing was to iterate on the story till we reached a consensus,” he noted, “When it was cooked, I started to work on the storyboards with the artist to channel the story through the visual director’s vision. The boards were also integrated multiple times and edited into what we call a boardomatic, giving the sense of pace and timing.
“During the boarding process, we started to explore environments and lighting with the art director, so we could come back to the team with precise storytelling and visuals and proceed into full production.”
To create a successful trailer, Suwalski notes that it’s important to craft a coherent piece that feels emotionally viable on its own.
“I imagine my audience as someone who doesn’t know anything about the IP, the game, the franchise, the story, or lore,” he mused, “And then, bit by bit, I’m trying to drag him into the world and story to go through the complete process of experiencing a narrative piece of art.”
Live performances
While I thought it may be akin to asking a parent to name their favorite child, I wondered if Suwalski had a favorite moment or scene from the trailer.
“There are many, for sure,” he shared, “But just from a pure director flexing perspective, I’m very proud of [the] many long takes during the fight with Bauk. It was a demanding choreography…I’m happy it worked out as a raw, brutal encounter, delivered without too many cuts.”
Almost every scene in the trailer brings fans into a “new world” or new event, Suwalski noted, in answer to which scenes were the most technically demanding. Finding the right balance between making scenes feel complete but not rushed or overloaded with information took a lot of effort.
“I’m always about getting the story right and then following my directorial instincts to deliver it visually,” he continued, “This [was] the very first ever Witcher 4 announcement, so it serves more as a world introduction and, most importantly, establishing Ciri as the main character.”
Looking at which tools he found invaluable for working on projects like the cinematic reveal trailer, Suwalski noted that his workflow is pretty minimalistic. He listed FadeIn and Photoshop as key tools, along with Slack, Miro, and Shotgun.
I wondered if there were any key misconceptions people had about Suwalski’s field of work, and he mentioned its similarities to classic filmmaking.
“I think people don’t realise how similar our workflow is to traditional filmmaking,” he explained, “When most people see CGI work they think ‘animation’ as a very broad and misunderstood term…
“Whereas the hand-animated or keyframe-animated projects are rare nowadays and mostly are very specific cartoon-like TV shows. Not CGI. CGI is made by transferring a performance capture done on a stage with actors and stuntmen, and captured by video and infrared cameras.”
Finally, Suwalski shared his thoughts on The Witcher 4 and what fans could expect; he couldn’t dive into this too deeply, of course, but noted that he was confident it would surpass all expectations. Based on the cinematic reveal trailer and tech demo, I’m inclined to agree – it looks incredibly promising.
FAQs
The Witcher 4 is an upcoming action RPG with strong themes of fantasy.
The Witcher 4 doesn’t have a set release date yet; it’s believed that it’ll be beyond 2027.
The main character of The Witcher 4 is Ciri.
The Witcher 4 will be on PlayStation 5, PC, and Xbox Series X/S.
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