Cosplay is an art form that takes a lot of time, dedication, and money. At almost every event that the Pixelated Geek staff covers, we are impressed with what dedicated fans do to represent their favorite franchise and/or character. However, it is not often that we are blown away by such fantastically detailed costumes.

Recently, we were tipped off about a group of very dedicated cosplayers that are recreating the Zelda universe in real life. The Zelda Project (TZP) is a grassroots cosplay project originally thought out by costume designer, Sarah Quillian. The TZP team’s goal is to create a very detailed and unique film trailer by December 2011. The first part of their project, which is currently underway, consists of creating the costumes, hiring the right looking actors that look similar to the characters, finding the right locations that could represent Hyrule, then creating beautiful photosets like the one seen past the break.

The above photoset looks almost too good to be real. Some might even think it was shot in front of green screen. But, as their website says, everything, except for some special effects, are real.

“The Lost Woods is the first in the series of still photography cosplay photo sets by The Zelda Project. Spanning 4 days, the team drove more than 1425 miles round trip, shot over 1000 photos in Northern California’s Coastal Redwoods, and woke up at 4:00AM every morning in order to catch the fog at sunrise. Once the photos were developed, they went under post processing, adding visual effects as a final touch to realize the concept of an enchanted ancient forest.”

Once all of the still photography is completed, the TZP team will go into film production. We have contacted Sarah in hopes for an exclusive interview about this project. If you would like more information about the project’s progress, or would like to donate to it, visit the team’s website at TheZeldaProject.net.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_kqKxHJzXU[/youtube]