There’s more to a great film than just the classic triptych of acting, directing, and writing. Visuals, including a movie’s design and production, have almost as big an effect on its reception.
Gravity is one of the most visually groundbreaking films in recent memory, and will surely do well here on Oscar night, especially in the categories of cinematography and editing. Gravity’s cinematographer, Emmanuel Lubezki, has five Oscar nominations without a win. That losing streak could be broken this year.
But the Cinematography prize could go to a host of other deserving films: 12 Years a Slave, Captain Phillips, Inside Llewyn Davis, and Nebraska are all in the running.
Prisoners is one of the most intriguing nomination possibilities: Winner of third prize at TIFF, Prisoners’ cinematography was praised as one of its best aspects. Its cinematographer, Roger Deakins, has one of the most infamous records at the Oscars: He’s been nominated ten times without a win. Giving him another fruitless nomination here might seem needlessly cruel in such a competitive category; but perhaps Oscar voters will feel sentimental and prove that eleventh time is the charm.
Rush is another film with a good chance here. Directed by Ron Howard, Rush is a sports movie about racing with enough heart and critical acclaim to have a chance at the Oscars. Right now, the film hasn’t gotten enough buzz to be on the radar for big prizes, but if it’s a hit, it could very well get nominated. For now, it looks likely to pick up a few noms in technical categories and not too much else.
Editing is another category Gravity has a near lock on. Its director Alfonso Cuaron’s prior film to Gravity was the critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful Children of Men, which was nominated for Oscars for its cinematography, editing, and writing. It lost all three, but Gravity was the smash hit Children wasn’t, and more, meaning it’s more likely to win its bids.
Other editing nominee possibilities include Captain Phillips, 12 Years a Slave, American Hustle, The Wolf of Wall Street, and Rush.
One of the most interesting Oscar categories to watch is Production Design, formerly known as Art Direction, which covers the sets, decoration, and graphic design of a film. This is because the award is often an even split between lavish, but not always critically acclaimed, period films; and the dramas that are nominated in many other categories.
This year, the latter category will most likely be occupied by 12 Years a Slave, Gravity, and/or American Hustle. But the former has plenty of contenders, too. One of the most prominent is Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby. The movie received a mixed-to-negative critical reaction, but most agreed that its visual style was superb. One student says, “It was beautiful.”
Another fan-favorite film with a shot at a nom is The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. The film’s not out yet, but the first Hobbit film was nominated here, and it’s a good bet this one will be too.
Oz the Great and Powerful is another big-budget film with great looks, even if it’s lacking in other areas. Its production designer, Robert Stromberg, has won two Oscars recently, for Avatar and Alice in Wonderland. While the digitally-generated sets he specializes in have generated controversy from those that don’t see them as true set design, the Oscars haven’t had a problem with rewarding it. Oz could also do well in Costume Design, as could The Great Gatsby and The Hobbit.
Period films like 12 Years a Slave and American Hustle will also do well here, and if the former wins, it’ll break a five-film losing streak for its designer, Patricia Norris.
Another period drama that could receive attention here is The Invisible Woman, a biopic of Charles Dickens and his secret lover. Its designer, Michael O’Connor, has won once before, for period drama The Duchess, winning despite its lack of critical acclaim. He could certainly snag a nomination here.
Those hoping for a Hobbit win should pay attention to the Makeup and Hair category, expanding from just Makeup for the first time this year. LOTR-based films have been nominated in this category every time they’ve been released, and that’s a trend that’s likely to continue.
Any movie where the characters are based on real people does well here, since their makeup is easily judgeable: Do those actors look like the real people they are supposed to look like? This means 12 Years a Slave, The Butler, Rush, Dallas Buyers Club, and American Hustle are all in the running.
Sound Editing and Sound Mixing are frequently confused with one another, and inevitably a hacky comedian, awards writer, or even the awards presenter at the ceremony cracks a joke about how nobody can tell the difference. Ignorance is never funny, so before I cover those awards, I’ll clarify just what they mean.
Essentially, there are three elements to a movie’s sound: The talking, the score, and everything else. Sound editing is the everything else. Footsteps, explosions, gunshots, car vrooms, all of these are a sound editor’s job. Maybe the most important part of that job is Foley, or the sound effects that are created in a studio instead of on set. If you’ve ever seen a video of someone hitting a head of celery with a baseball bat in time to punches being thrown in a movie, that’s a Foley artist. It’s not synonymous with sound editing, but it’s a big aspect of it. Sound mixing, on the other hand, involves taking the talking, score, and sound effects, and “mixing” them with one another to find the balance between all three.
Without them, score would drown out talking, sound effects would be too loud or too quiet, and the movie would end up sounding like it was shot in a basement. It’s not a showy job, but it’s a hugely important one.
In terms of the Oscars, though, there’s a clear frontrunner for both awards. Gravity is a groundbreaking film visually, but its sound has also received acclaim, and it’s exactly the type of combination action/prestige movie that often gets rewarded here.
But it’s not without competition, mainly because action/prestige is something this year in movies has done unexpectedly well.
Captain Phillips and All is Lost both involve sea voyages gone wrong, and both have a good chance in these categories. Rush and 12 Years a Slave both have a fair shot here as well. Often a summer blockbuster sneaks into one or both of these categories, but given the weak year for blockbusters and the strong year for films that combine explosions and critical acclaim, that might not happen this time. If an action film does get through, it could be Pacific Rim, Iron Man 3, or Elysium.
Those also happen to be three films with excellent chances at getting a Visual Effects nomination! I say “nomination” because this is maybe the least competitive race at this year’s Oscars. Barring a scandal in which it’s revealed that all the effects are just copy-pasted from Armageddon, Gravity has this award one hundred percent in the bag.
Clearly, there were a lot of good movies released this year. Wading through them and picking out the gems can sometimes seem fruitless, but such are the tribulations of predicting awards. To find out more about awards prognostication, look at the website goldderby.com
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