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Movie
For the past year, Joe Morriss has been creating art exclusively for Ganon’s Tower. Joe’s artwork is top of the line, and each piece of art is painstakingly detailed with love and care. But why does one person go through so much trouble? Its simple, Joe has been harboring a secret only few of us have known, and I for one feel fortunate to have caught a glimpse of it. For the past couple of years, Joe has been writing a script for the first of 3 "Legend of Zelda" Movies he hopes to make, the first of which is entitled "LINK." Since the script has almost reached its completion, Joe has been making storyboards. His movie idea is nothing like that insulting cartoon Nintendo came out with years ago. In fact, the pictures he displays on the Ganon’s Tower website are just tidbits of the trilogy. Out of trust, Joe allowed me to view part of the opening scene of the script. After reading it I thought it was an excellent beginning to a great storyline and I knew if given a chance, this could be a very successful movie. Although all of the fan fiction I receive at Ganon’s Tower is all very good, Joe has something that gives his script an edge and separates his story from the rest. Although I could continue to give you glowing remarks about Joe's art and his ability for writing, the script might never see the light of day. That’s why Joe’s in need of our help. Joe knows that Nintendo owns all copyright and trademarks and all of the other legal stuff that protects them from people stealing their ideas and their work. Joe also knows Nintendo is faced with thousands of people sending in movie, book, and game ideas everyday. Nintendo, and especially Shigeru Miyamoto, needs a reason to even look in Joe's direction. That’s where we can help. If we can generate enough hype, that might give Joe the chance he needs, especially since he wants to direct the movie to keep it from getting botched up. In reality, Joe would do this movie for free, he says "Its in a sense, a tribute" and a story about what he considers a true hero is. Here’s how you could help. Send emails to friends and fellow fans as well as your support to Joe, me, and especially Nintendo. Maybe, just maybe, with enough letters, they’ll be interested.
Update -- October 1, 2005 We have a new page up with the latest progress chart, an article about the making of this trailer, and the first clip of it, which looks AMAZING, I highly recommend that everybody downloads this. Update -- September 26, 2005 Joe has given us a new progress chart for the movie trailer, which can be seen here! Update -- September 18, 2005 Joe has given us a progress chart for the movie trailer, which can be seen here! Update -- September 8, 2005 Joe has a message he would like to relay to his fans. He appreciates all the emails he gets about the movie, but sometimes they can be counter-productive. For example, emails telling him what the story should be or what the film should look like do not really help. He will be re-doing the script so that the movie will work with animation OR live action, but there is a much better chance for the film to become a classic if it it animated rather than live action. Watching a videogame is no fun, since videogames are meant to be interactive between the player and the game, whereas a movie you just watch, so things have to be changed so it's not based ONLY on the game. Joe has won awards for his writing, so have faith in his abilities. Right now the current plan is to have the trailer ready by the end of January, so keep checking back for updates, and thanks for the support with this movie, now let's get it made! Update -- September 5, 2005 Joe is working on a trailer for his movie to get Nintendo's attention, and he needs help. He is asking for anybody in Riverside, California or Moreno Valley, California who is willing to help him to email him at ryogajoe@yahoo.com. If you have skills in Photoshop, 3d Studio Max, painting, or coloring Joe can probably use your help, but feel free to ask, since he might have other jobs available too. Below are 2 uncolored images Joe has made, he will be providing more information every 1-2 weeks, so check back often, and let's do what we can so this movie trilogy gets made!
Update - September 29, 2003 Ok, where do I start. I know, how about starting one of the most common questions I’m asked: Q: Where the hell have you been?! A: Over the course of the last 10 months I’ve been involved with several projects: two animations and one live action + CG short film, all of which I’m directing. Currently, I only have 9 more months to finish them. So far it has cost me a social life, sleep, a fiancé, and some respect, but the work done looks great. Needless to say, I’m stretched pretty thin, and have had no choice but to put LINK on the back burner. Q: Why do you want LINK to be animated as opposed to LIVE-Action? A: Animation has a kind of magic that can make anything seem possible. This is called “Suspension of Disbelief.” People are more willing to believe that the impossible is possible because the rules of the natural world are broken in animation constantly. But lets look at an even more important reason. The art from the Legend of Zelda series has made several leaps and bounds, pushing the boundaries of working aesthetic character design.
This functional artwork does not come easy, it takes the minds of numerous artists and thousands of potentially working concepts. Any Legend of Zelda film created which isn’t animated is an insult to every hard working artist who helped develop Zelda, as well as all of the children who have opened up a Zelda instruction booklet and copied the art within it. Q: Ok, then why don’t you want the animation to reflect the art in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time? A: In a nutshell, the simpler the drawing, the faster the animated movie can be cranked out. But the real answer is incredibly big! Read carefully if you really want to know. Animation is an intense and grueling process which many people really don’t realize until they’ve tried it themselves. When you are watching a movie, or TV, you really aren’t watching a moving image. You are watching HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of photographs flashing in front of you at a high rate of speed. One picture is placed in front of you, taken away, and replaced before you realize it. Every second of film is 30 pictures, but you don’t know it. Film is 30 pictures per second, but we say 30 FPS or 30 Frames Per Second (well actually it’s 29.97fps). Each minute of film is composed of 1,800 flashing images.....(30fps X 60seconds = 1,800). Typically animation is 24fps. Therefore, one minute of animation is 1,440 drawings per minute! That’s a lot of artwork! Especially if you are making a 90 minute film! (Roughly 129,600 drawings).
Above are some drawings for a split-second animation that I was asked to do a few years ago. The animations were for a site that didn’t quite make it before I started putting stuff on Ganons Tower. As you can see, one series of animation is of Link, and the other is Samus from Metroid. Link was simple to animate in comparison to Samus because of the incredible amount of detail. I spent 2 hours animating Link (which is of poor quality) and another 8 for Samus (which is also of poor quality). All of these drawings took me all day and for good cause. If one line was out of place on Link, it would result in tragedy, that’s why animating Samus was torture. I’s true, at the time I had no formal training in animation. But here is the scary fact. The process is the same, but worse when working for Disney or Dreamworks. The best animators (not animations necessarily) in the world come from Dreamworks and Disney. Disney animators have all day to make 10 perfect drawings. That doesn’t sound like it’s hard work does it? But what you don’t know is that the drawings must be tested over and over again. If there are ANY flaws, they must be corrected, over and over again. The animator makes ten drawings, tests them, repairs them, all day and then his/her bosses (and I do mean bosses) tell him they did it wrong, and the process begins again. Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the process to achieve perfection. The harsh reality is that the Disney animators produces some 50 drawings a day that could be passed off, but never survive the trash bin. After all of that, the drawings must be cleaned up and painted. The artwork in Ocarina of Time was either oil painted, airbrushed, or colored in the computer. That’s about 6 hours or more work for one drawing let alone thousands (you can bet that those art pieces took more than 6 hours because those artists have equally tough and impatient art directors, especially because it’s Nintendo) Animating shadows on characters faces is also time and labor intensive, therefore animating paintings is almost a mathematical impossibility. That’s why LINK shouldn’t and won’t look like that. **** When Disney and dreamworks have a character sitting still, they character is still moving slightly, if you look for it you will see it. No character ever holds a pose as stiff as a board such as in Japanese anime. These fully animated segments make an animation, otherwise it’s just a glorified story board animatic (not that I don’t like anime, its just not quite animation). Q: What’s been going on with you and Nintendo? A: Noting. The truth of the matter is, that Link may never be. Nintendo owns it all except for Rand, his dog Champion, and the plots I devised for the films. I don’t reveal the plot because if I do, Nintendo could easily claim it for their own. Therefore Nintendo holds all of the cards because they own all of the rights to their characters and geographical locations in Hyrule. This also means they make all of the rules, and I have no say in the matter. I know I have already put up enough work on the website for them to see that I might possibly have a well thought out idea. Unfortunately the work is outdated in comparison to the skills I possess today, that’s why I’m directing some indi films. But still to this day, Nintendo hasn’t looked in my/our direction. All I wanted was an appointment with someone who was willing to hear me/us out. Nobody from Nintendo really cares about us, me and what we want and that is their God-given right. To tell you the truth, I don’t blame them. They don’t know who I am, and therefore they would be taking a hefty risk. I understand this because I have grown, and grown up as an artist/director/dreamer since the time when we launched this idea onto the net. I received several thousand emails but that was about it. The ones who should of asked didn’t. I have had no choice but to accept these facts, especially when they had that poll on their website “should there be a Zelda live action movie or animated series.” I will still be a fan and donate some more work, even more exceptional than before, toss in a few more commentaries, but that’s about it. I can’t keep pushing Link out there if the right people aren’t willing to look at it. And because I have some connections to the movie biz, I am very sure that there really isn’t anything in the works currently. But one day there will be a Zelda film. If its great I’ll be proud, if it’s terrible, maybe they will let me right a terrible wrong such as what has happened to their games which have gone film. Wether or not Nintendo is the one who helps me get my big break, I know one day I will be big out there. The professionals that have seen my work know what I am capable of doing some really great things. Some years down the road I will be big out there Nintendo or not. Everyone out there, I appreciate the faith all of you have put into me. So, I’ll tell you a little about me. Right now I am Joe Morriss, Age 27. I’m Italian, a Libra, and I’m a dreamer but my feet are planted. I live in Los Angeles Ca. I don’t have a singing voice . I have two great parents as well as some talented friends who are going with me on the journey. I hope to be a great director of animation and live action someday. I have three degrees in art and I want to teach High School for a year or two to give something back before I work for myself. I worked on Chasing Papi for Paramount as an independent contractor (that’s why my name isn’t in the credits). I will be pitching several of my ideas to Dreamworks, Disney, nickelodeon, and cartoon network, all of which have excellent odds, which isn’t half bad for an amateur. If ***** ****** becomes successful I will pitch it to Nintendo as a vid game. Above all, I want to tell the stories that teach something valuable in the end, as well as emulate some of the great film makers of the past but still keep it very Joe Morriss.
Thanks Everyone! -Joe Morriss
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