Storm Over Gondolin is a non-profit movie for the appreciation of Tolkien's enthusiasts and inspired by his tale entitled The Fall of Gondolin. The movie will be shot in English (and subtitled in many diferent languages), and will be released for free on the Internet.
ETA: ***UPDATE*** On December 8th, 2013, Middle-earth News reported that the project had been "shut down" by the Tolkien Estate. The team posted this message on their FB page:
Dear fans,
We come to you today with some sad news. The Tolkien Estate, the legal body which manages the rights to Tolkien’s works, has asked us to immediately cease working on the movie Storm over Gondolin. Like you, we are extremely disappointed to have to stop the production of a movie inspired by Tolkien’s legendarium. However, the entire team is staying on board and we are more excited than ever by the opportunity to create a new world inspired by the ancient mythologies. Much of our work still stands, and we are therefore announcing the production of a new fantasy film where you will find elves and orcs in an original universe. Thank you for your support and your fidelity ; a new step in our journey is beginning, and it is for you that we are taking it!
Last edited by Elentári on Thu Jan 16, 2014 7:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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I heard about it at TORN. I am less enamored with the previous fan-made films than many others were, and am not convinced of the morality of making even a so-called not-for-profit film based on copyrighted material, when it has not been approved by the copyright holder. But we'll see.
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
I will watch it, but like Voronwë, I'm not a fan of the other two efforts. Hunt for Gollum has some decent elements here and there, but Born of Hope was a really painful Jacksonian imitation.
I'm especially surprised at how unimaginative people are with the orcs. There are limitless options, and they all end up looking exactly like the one we saw in LOTR!
I heard this film project was 'shut down', but that the folks involved planned to make another film in any case, still with Orcs and Elves if I recall correctly.
Speaking of copyright, anyone know what the deal is with respect to websites? Not that I plan on having one, but I once stumbled across a site with the Lay of Leithian on it...
... or that is, I think it was the older version of the Lay updated with newer sections, plus some lines written by the person who owned the site.
So far as I understand, the same copyright rules apply to websites as do to other forms of publication. Difficult to enforce, however, and often just not worth it.
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
That's what I thought Voronwë. What's the deal though: 10 percent of a given 'work' [like a given poem within The Lays of Beleriand for example] or something?
So far as I am aware, there is no hard and fast number, and it can vary from situation to situation.
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
Thinking about copyrights...after The Wind Done Gone case (Suntrust v. Houghton Mifflin), it was fairly clearly established that one can create a commercial work that is derivative of another within certain bounds, so long as the derivative work represents more than simple plagiarism; it needs to be able to develop ideas of its own, not just rehash the existing work.
So while filming the Fall of Gondolin as related in the Sil or UT et al is problematic, filming *a* Fall of Gondolin from the POV of someone other than the major characters would probably not be.
The Suntrust case relates to parodies, and it is unclear how far that would extend to a different kind of adaptation using the basic story of a copyrighted work. Plus, it is by no means settled law. Suntrust is an 11th Circuit case. However, six years later the 9th Circuit came to a different conclusion in Dr. Seuss Enterprises v. Penguin Books in which it held that a book published by Penguin Books called The Cat NOT in the Hat! A Parody by Dr. Juice, a rhyming summary of highlights from the O.J. Simpson double murder trial, violated copyrights and trademarks owned by Dr. Seuss Enterprises, L.P.
Which is to say, it is complicated.
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
Well, "parody" is in itself a loaded term...in Suntrust the book in question was never meant to be funny. It was more a "Wide Sargasso Sea"/"Jane Eyre" situation.
The takeaway from the Ninth Circuit case as I understand it was more to do with the target of the parody being the subject as well. If they'd written something riffing on Seuss alone they'd have been fine.
But as a rule you can't copyright fictional characters, or fictional places, or plot structures. Names sometimes can be trademarked if they're iconic enough.
