Oscars

The Oscar Award (奧斯卡) is a very famous and important award in the filmmaking industry, but how much do you know about this award?

Do you know?

1.		“Slumdog Millionaire” was such a big hit in 2008. How many nominations (提名) did it receive for Oscars that year? And how many Oscars did it won? Name three.
2.		Which 3 Oscars (out of its 13 nominations) did this film, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, win in 2008?
3.		“Titanic” (1997) was one of the most nominated films for Oscars. How many nominations did it receive?
4.		Adrien Brody was the youngest male to win a Best Actor Oscar for “The Pianist” (2002). At what age did he won the award?
5.		Which film won all the 11 nominations for Oscars in 2003?
6.		Name the person who has most often hosted (主持) the Oscars.
7.		When was the 81^st Oscars held?
8.		When will the 82^nd Oscars be held?

The Oscar Award

Every year in Spring, people are expecting to see lots of awards being presented, whether it is in the music industry or the movie industry, locally or internationally. The Oscar Award is one of them.

The Oscars, or officially named the Academy Awards of Merit, are presented annually to film directors (導演), actors and scriptwriters (編劇) by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to recognize their contribution (貢獻) to the film industry. It is seen as the highest achievement of moviemaking.

This is a moment that film-makers and movie-lovers look forward to every year. It is also a time for award nominees (獎項候選人) to dress up and walk the red carpet, where the flashlights and reporters are all focused on their glamorous styles of clothing on the carpet and their acting in different films.

credited by Fabsugar

The 1st Academy Awards ceremony was held on Thursday, 16 May, 1929, at the Hotel Roosevelt in Hollywood to honor outstanding (傑出的) film achievements of 1927 and 1928. It was a private brunch (早午餐) with an audience of around 270 people.

The 82nd Academy Awards, honoring the best in film for 2009, will be held on Sunday, 7 March, 2010, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. The nominations of the awards will be announced on 2 February 2010.

Would your favourite movies such as Avatar and The Twilight Saga: New Moon be nominated for the awards?

The Oscar Statuette

What is the feeling of holding an Oscar?

Many award winners would present a speech of gratitude (致謝辭) (of course, some would fall speechless!), little do the audience know that the Oscar statuette is in fact quite heavy!

The Oscar statuette was made of gold-plated Britannia metal (不列顛合金) and stationed on a black metal base (基座). It is 13.5 inches (34 cm) tall, and weighs 8.5 lb (3.85 kg, or, the weight of a new-born baby), depicting a knight (騎士) holding a crusader's sword standing on a reel (捲軸) of film with five spokes (輪輻). The five spokes each represent the original branches of the Academy: Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers, and Technicians.

According to one of the stories, the Oscar was so nicknamed as a result of Margaret Herrick, Academy librarian and eventually executive director, who commented that the statuette resembled her Uncle Oscar. The nickname was widely known by 1934 and was finally adopted (採用) by the Academy as an official name for the award.

Up till now, 2701 Oscars have been presented to filmmakers.

The Nomination

In order to be nominated, a film must open in the previous calendar year from midnight at the start of January 1 to midnight at the end of December 31, in Los Angeles, California. It must be at least 40 minutes long, (except for short subject awards).

The members of various branches of the Academy nominate those in their respective fields while all members may submit nominees for Best Picture. The winners are then determined by a second round of voting in which all members are then allowed to vote in most categories.

The following awards are to be nominated and presented in the coming Oscars:

ACTING: Performance by an actor in a leading role.

　　　　　Performance by an actor in a supporting role.

　　　　　Performance by an actress in a leading role.

　　　　　Performance by an actress in a supporting role.

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM: Best animated feature film of the year.*

ART DIRECTION: Achievement in art direction.

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Achievement in cinematography.

COSTUME DESIGN: Achievement in costume design.

DIRECTING: Achievement in directing.

DOCUMENTARY: For each of two classifications:

　　　　　　　　　a. Best documentary feature.

　　　　　　　　　b. Best documentary short subject.

FILM EDITING: Achievement in film editing.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: Best foreign language film of the year.

MAKEUP: Achievement in makeup.

MUSIC: For achievements in music written for motion pictures:

　　　　a. Original score.

　　　　b. Original song.*

　　　　c. Original musical.*

BEST PICTURE: Best motion picture of the year.

SHORT FILM: For each of two classifications:

　　　　　　　a. Best animated short film.

　　　　　　　b. Best live action short film.

SOUND EDITING: Achievement in sound editing.

SOUND MIXING: Achievement in sound mixing.

VISUAL EFFECTS: Achievement in visual effects.

WRITING: For each of two classifications:

　　　　　a. Adapted screenplay.

　　　　　b. Original screenplay.

* May not be given every year. See special rules for this category for conditions of presentation.

Time to reveal the answers to the questions at the beginning! Those were all memorable Oscar moments:

1. “Slumdog Millionaire” received 9 nominations, and it won the following: Cinematography; Directing; Film editing; Music (original score); Music (original song); Best picture; Sound mixing; and Writing (adapted screenplay).

2. “The Curious Incident of Benjamin Button” won Oscars in Art direction, Makeup and Visual effects.

3. “Titanic” (Best Picture 1997) had 14 nominations.

4. Adrien Brody was the youngest male to win a Best Actor Oscar for “The Pianist” (2002). He won at the age of 29 years and 343 days.

Lord of the Rings: Return of the King REG CD cover 5. “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2003) received 11 nominations and won all these 11 Oscars.

6. Bob Hope hosted the Academy Awards a record of 19 times.

7. The 81st Oscars was held on 22 February, 2009.

8. The 82nd Oscars will be held on 7 March, 2010.

Discussion

1. Which awards should Avatar and The Twilight Saga: New Moon be nominated in your opinion? Why?

2. If you were one of the voters for the Best Picture Award, which movie would you choose? Why?

3. The voting of the Oscars has always been within the Academy only. Do you think they should add an item called “the most well-received award” for which public’s votes are taken into consideration? Do you think the result would be the same as the “Best Picture” Oscar Award? Why?

Further reading:

The Emmy Awards: for TV and other emerging media: http://www.emmys.tv/awards

The Golden Globe Awards: for TV and film achievements: http://www.goldenglobes.org/

The Grammy Awards: for music: http://www.grammy.com/

References:

http://www.oscars.org/

http://ferdyonfilms.com/2008/02/

http://www.nzvideos.org/lordreturnCD.html

http://www.soulofamerica.com/

http://pinkfifi.wordpress.com/2009/02/25/

http://www.nytimes.com/

http://www.starcentralmagazine.com/entertainment/movies/2009/12/24/

http://dearcinema.com/holocaust-cinema

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/06/25/2607865.htm

http://www.videomax.com.hk/