Watch Dogs Making Of.

I directed around 120 minutes of cut scenes for the game. The process used is Performance Capture. The video below goes through the process of how this was done. 

One misconception about my work is often that I direct animation. In fact I directed almost 2 hours with actors. The animation comes later when the mocap and facial capture is applied to our models.  

The other interesting thing is that everything plays in real time in the game engine - there is nothing that is pre-rendered. This is the reason for the difference in quality between a film and a game.

This is a little film that shows how the animatics were shot:

Reviews that mention the Cinematics

“[The Cinematics] are exceptionally good on both a technical and a dramatic level.”

— - US gamer

“The character modeling, clothing, and use of lighting all feel very next generation, and the mostly high quality voice acting and beautifully subtle motion capture really bring the characters to life. ”

— US Gamer

“, the whole thing is reminiscent of a styled action-thriller from the cinema, dramatic camera movements and excellently edited and dialogue.

Especially Aiden’s hacker friends are some very interesting people and make a charming impression. In addition there is the cinematic direction. However, it is precisely these successful achievements that make the mistakes appear even stronger.”

— Flickering Myth

“Watch_Dogs does a terrific job in making you feel emotionally involved with its cast. This is something that very rarely happens with me: I tend to see cut scenes more as justification for what I’ve done or what I’m about to do. But in this game, they’re so much more than that. I’m interested to hear what the characters have to say, what their decisions and actions reveal about themselves, and how they relate to one another – which in this game runs the full emotional spectrum. In some cases, there’s even the hint of chemistry here and there – something that I think is a quite astonishing achievement for a game.”

— http://www.usgamer.net/articles/watchdogs-ps4-review

“It’s an immersive, intelligent tale that has a fabulous supporting cast in it. Among my favorite personalities in Watch Dogs are Jordi Chin and Damien Brenks, 

Damien had a certain level unpredictability that made me think of The Dark Knight’s Joker. ”

— http://www.examiner.com/review/watch-dogs-review-it-s-about-the-gameplay-not-the-graphics

“Initially, Aiden’s motives seem cut-and-paste but his interactions with the other NPC’s bring a genuine warmth and emotion to the medium I’ve yet to experience anywhere else. This is especially prevalent in the earlier cutscenes, with a conversation at a child’s birthday party that made me double-take; while the graphics were not life-like, each character spoke and moved with feeling. A graveyard scene later on had genuine pathos and a brutal killing by a gang leader made my skin crawl. Ubisoft should be commended for this alone.”

— Gearburn

“The story cutscenes, the big ones, look gorgeous. Fully animated and detailed, you can see some absolutely stunning effects and details in folks faces and movement. ”

— Digital Chumps

“The voice work for the main characters in the game, however, are absolute top notch. Noam Jenkins hands in a rock-solid performance as Aiden, Aaron Douglas plays Jordi Chin (a fellow Fixer) is one of the high points of the game), and I’m not sure who plays Clara Lille but her voice is pure silk. The only person I felt fell a little short was Anna Hopkins as Aiden’s sister Nikki. During a certain sequence of the game she goes from screaming in terror to joking with Aiden in the span of a single phone call and it comes across a little weird. Other than that, her performance is solid.”

— Gaming Trend