Zelda Art Majora's Mask Opera

[M. Bulteau]

Hi. I'm M. Bulteau (Berlioz, around here). I'm a composer/writer, and I have my work online:

www.mbulteau.com

Far from being here to spam you, take that as a portfolio for your reference towards what I would like an opinion on from the community.

I have long delved into the depths of Majora's Mask dramatic possibilities, and being a composer/writer I am currently considering (after having enough material to start) creating a stage work of Majora's Mask, something big, serious (as in, professional), powerful and with one or two modifications that I assure change nothing of the story's core concepts at all. In fact they bring out the drama in full and allow for a stable adaptation to stage, instead of the many flaws that arise from taking a game structure into a dramatic set without the necessary reconstruction.

Musically speaking it would also avoid reducing itself to medley form. I would try my best to develop on every theme, taking them as bases to be grown on and to make a complete and organic work, instead of a patched-up musical track.

I would need to gather up all the available resources to write a score that would please me and all the other Zelda fans.

The hardest part would obviously be, afterwards, attempting to contact the actual composer, showing the product, and asking for his approval, perhaps his support, in having the work built and brought to life, for we all know an artist trying to climb always needs help from above, especially if they are using the work of those above as a vital basis. It is always a win-win situation, since artistic reinterpretations of any established medium always validate its existence further (a.k.a. mutual advertisement et al.).

I have my original work, both writings and compositions, as evidence of what I can do, and I am usually not one to make these kinds of adapted projects, but Zelda is something that has always fascinated me, and Majora's Mask is the one that always dug deepest.

I would like to know if the community would be interested in seeing such a project built.

Cheers,

M. Bulteau

 

[MikauIncarnate]

I think that would be really cool. The only thing I'm worried about is the problems and, may I say "tackiness" that might arise from having words sung to a BGM. That said, I would really like to see this happen. And if you need any help with music or staging, I would be willing.

(Also, If you were trying to make a link to your website, it doesn't work.)

 

[M. Bulteau]

Thanks for the link thing. Hadn't noticed.

The musical themes would be developed, BGMs would always evolve out of their simple and looping form into something more organic, linked to the rest of the opera as a musical whole.

 

[M. Bulteau]

Little orchestration experiment:

[video=youtube;Rzvtayc0y9w]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rzvtayc0y9w[/video]

So far, it's just the original theme, although I already wrote sung interventions in a slightly longer version of this, which I obviously cannot deliver until I manage to gather some singers to record and deliver a sample or two of what I intend, musically.

 

[MikauIncarnate]

Wow, really nice. I think that, and especially that orchestration, would lend itself very well to vocals. Good job!

 

[M. Bulteau]

Thank you for the comments so far.

I am aware of the possibility that I might be bombarded with flames, because although the modifications involved in the setting of the work to stage do not change the story's core concepts at all, as I said, they do alter something quite important for those who take refuge on the heroic deed of a single individual (Link).

*prepares for the flame*

I have put enough thought on this (took me a while), and there is a difference people have to understand exists between media.

A book is a book. A movie is a movie. A game is a game. A stage drama/opera is a stage drama/opera.

The intensity of a stage drama comes from the concentration of the attention in a specific character or group of characters and the things that affect them. They can be related to something bigger, obviously, but it still has to restrict itself to a group that is small enough to build up the amount of weight it needs.

The reason a game like Zelda can't be adapted to stage at 100% in every single aspect is because a game is built as an interactive medium. A game like Zelda lives on diversity and exploration.

I chose Majora's Mask for a reason: In all of its diversity, Majora's Mask has the ability to captivate through the personal anguishes of the inhabitants of a dying world. Now, turning it into a never-ending list of equally important woes would be static and unimportant, and here is the key issue: So would turning a mute heroic character into a chore-handler for a world with living, thinking and feeling individuals.

For what I suggest, I ask for understanding from the part of the community in that I am convinced that I can heighten the theatrical power of such a world and what it is experiencing through this simple yet key modification:

Link is absent.

It is a what-if cautionary tale to the world of the audience (like Ikana was to the rest of Termina) telling of Termina's fate without the intervention of a savior, a Deux Ex Machina in Hylian form.

The core concepts remain the same, as I've said. The story revolves around promises, the whole world's mechanic and sense is exactly the same.

But this little big change allows me to make a humanistic injection of character build-up in the largest and best known side-quest of all Zelda games: Kafei and Anju.

By centering the story on Kafei and Anju, I can make it that Kafei's quest for the retrieval of the Sun Mask and the fulfillment of his promise comes out of his own accord, his own effort, and provide a fluid narrative of his tracking of Sakon and his treasure. The struggle of a last promise in a world fated to be destroyed.

Don't think Skull Kid and the mask Salesman will be undermined, on the contrary, I expect the Salesman to be a very important guide to the events in Termina and cross paths with Kafei later on, as he is the responsible for taking the mask to avoid disaster and then having Skull Kid steal it from him.

As I said above, a game is a game, and a game's diversity is made for interaction. In an opera, that diversity becomes harmful. It becomes dispersion. My aim is to make a big, serious and most of all effective work out of Majora's Mask, and you can take my word on the respect I have for canon. So much that instead of modifying or harmfully cutting Link's diverse actions to adapt the work, I would rather make it keep its sense simply by letting Termina exist nearly unchanged.

I understand and humbly accept all the flaming that might erupt from the canon-centered community, but I am sure of my abilities to make a bittersweet cautionary tale out of Majora's Mask for our own world to see. Zelda fans or not. And if it wishes, to compare to our own dangerously decreasing sense of trust and faith in people.

I ask of you the same sort of trust: What concerns me in this project will not disappoint.

 

[MikauIncarnate]

Honestly, I think that might be a smart idea. One question though, will The Deku Butler's son, Darmani, and Mikau be present? I'm sure if you have plans to remove Link and can make it fluid, you could probably fluidly incorporate the living characters in, or rather, allow Kafei to recieve the transformation masks... (plots in mind) ... I wish more people would post on here.

 

[M. Bulteau]

The plot is already fully defined, and I have also finished the first sections of Act I yesterday.

If there is no hero, there will be no access to the divine magic Link carried (from the ocarina powers to the transformation masks), but the music will be there, connected to concepts and characters as leitmotifs, reoccurring themes to mean something.

Darmani and Mikau will most definitely appear while Kafei follows false or late leads on Sakon throughout Termina.

Remember that as it is centered on Kafei and the HMS, it will focus on what they can do in Termina, instead of the heroic and thorough exploration by Link.

 

[M. Bulteau]

Merry Christmas, people!

I come to show signs of activity and inform you that I have completed the first half-hour of the opera, and that you should expect samples with actual vocals somewhere in January.

For now, I give you instrumental samples from several parts of the still unfinished Act I.

Keep in mind that they're mostly just orchestrations of original themes because the real development usually happens with the singers (which is usually where I cut between the themes here, because there is no actual voice sound but a digital instrument emulating it, and we all know how those suck).

The only thing mildly "developed" in this sample is the superimposition of a modified Kafei and Anju's marriage theme (will be used as the leitmotif for their hope) on the Astral Observatory theme, along with some quotes from the Song of Healing (leitmotif for promisekeeping and obviously the Happy Mask Salesman).

[video=youtube;L7FFcstV8gs]www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7FFcstV8gs[/video]

By the way, for those who enjoyed my website's music, I only recently noticed my media players in the site's Works section were all down. I've put in new ones and there's much more music to listen to in that section than the 9 sample tracks on the home page.

 

[Pinkfish11]

I think that is a wonderful idea! As is already said, as long as you stick to the core elements I think it could be a wonderful opera. Also I think the idea of Link not being
there is a really unique idea. Would that make the play a tragedy since everyone would die in the end?

 

[guapo2003]

That's really awesome man!!!!

 

[M. Bulteau]

Would that make the play a tragedy since everyone would die in the end?

It is definitely a tragedy, yes. It will be made of strong contrasts between the hopeful search of Kafei and the resigned or frustrated people of Termina.

 

[Libk]

omg. A Zelda tragedy? I love the idea

 

[M. Bulteau]

Here's an instrumental for a dance sequence. It's a battle that happens between the Deku and Odolwa. It might sound strange, yes, but all I can say so far is that in the story it is a consequence of giving Kafei a boost in his search for the Sun Mask.

[video=youtube;BgVAt2en6Ek]www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgVAt2en6Ek[/video]

 

[M. Bulteau]

Here's an instrumental for the short celebration after Odolwa falls to the Deku, interrupted by the appearance of the Giant that is freed as a consequence.

Everything that follows is the background instrumental for the Giant's aria, so pardon the repetitiveness, since there are words to be sung over it.

It develops into other harmonies past the middle.

[video=youtube;HW4h4EQLUic]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HW4h4EQLUic[/video]