Awards Season 2023

[knives]

On a different note, because it's the field I worked in for much of my career, I feel rather invested in The Creator winning for special effects and it should have also been nominated for a production design. The film has its flaws, but it looks like it cost three times of what it did, the designs are gorgeous and the effects work is flawless.

I’m excited to see The Creator, but right now my heart is with Godzilla in that category. It’s just so good and highlights for me the importance of immersion over realism. Everything shown in that film I was totally involved with even if none of it was aiming to be realistic.

[therewillbeblus]

Okay, I think we have enough people to play, and I'm assuming at least a few people who haven't PM'd me and are usual participants will also join in. Happy to take more suggestions on tallying, but for now I'm thinking of using DI's system from 2021, or at least a version of it. So, if we do that, make sure you have your predictions for each category posted in this thread (or PM'd to me, if you wanna keep it like a secret) before.. I'm thinking the day of the ceremony? But happy to make the deadline earlier if that's preferable(?)

This was DarkImbecile's system:

NOMINATIONS:
5 POINTS: Picture, Director, All Acting Categories, Screenplays

3 POINTS: International Feature, Cinematography, Animated Feature, Documentary Feature, Editing, Sound, Costume, Makeup/Hair, Score, Production Design, Visual Effects

1 POINT: Song, Animated Short, Documentary Short, Live Action Short

I'm tempted to either
a) move all the 1-pointers into the 3-category, or
b) just break things into 2 and 1 points (2 points for the top prizes, plus International Feature, Animated Feature, Documentary Feature, maybe something else? - and 1 point for technical categories + song/shorts). Though I'm not a big math guy, so for all I know there's a benefit to assessing these in 5/3 rather than 2/1... I just think some of the tougher categories are the 1-pointers while some 3s are already in stone, and it'd be cool to reward people for taking effort to engage with the whole ceremony.
c) I could also lessen the gap - so use the same system DI proposed above but have it be 3/2/1 - that way someone doesn't gain a substantial lead for guessing the obvious cinematography when someone took a risk, and can't make up that risk with a Doc short or such.. That might just be easiest. Thoughts?

[TechnicolorAcid]

Maybe do Best Documentary, Best International Film, and Best Animated Film as 3 points. Technical categories in 2 points. And then keep 1 point the same. Just some thoughts.

[thirtyframesasecond]

My question to all those (but especially the celebrities) criticizing Barbie's failure to secure 10 noms instead of 8: Whose nominations would you rescind to make room for Gerwig and Robbie?

I haven't liked a single Lanthimos movie so far. If he got his fish eye lens out again to rub in how weird and crazeeey his movie is, I'd happily drop him for Gerwig.
#

I like to think that he was obsessed with Hype Williams music videos back in the day and that influenced continued into his directing.

[willoneill]

Technically this should be in the non-existent but eventual Awards Season 2025 thread, but for that year the Academy will be introducing a new Oscar for Best Casting.

[domino harvey]

I wonder what metrics will be considered here by voters

[Never Cursed]

It's crazy how few people make up the actual Casting branch of the Academy (Deadline says there are around 150, 10 of which joined last year); if they're voting for the nominations themselves I have to imagine it'll be major inside baseball

[knives]

And yet no stunt choreography. That has to be the most embarrassing exclusion at the moment.

[beamish14]

And yet no stunt choreography. That has to be the most embarrassing exclusion at the moment.

It’s so disrespectful to the unbelievable amount of work that stunt coordinators and performers dedicate to films

[therewillbeblus]

Especially when the industry has edged further towards tentpole movies requiring bigger and better stunts each outing as seemingly the only form of differentiation to justify their existence. People are paying money to see the stunts, and then to get the money shot of RDJ taking off his mask to make a quip, and then return to more stunts

[Matt]

There is no stunt choreography or stunt performer branch of the Academy, but they are part of the new Production and Technology branch. Problem is that also includes, according to IndieWire:

chief technology officers, senior department heads in technology and creative services, and preservation and restoration specialists, as well as credited production roles, including stunt coordinators, script supervisors, choreographers, music supervisors, colorists, line producers, and associate producers.

So I don’t know how much weight the stunt people alone would have to push for their own awards category.

There is a Casting Directors branch, so it makes sense that they would have an awards category.

What I’ve always wondered, since there is also a Marketing and Public Relations branch, is why there is no award for Best Marketing Campaign (including trailers, posters, etc.) This seems like a good option for recognizing popular films without having a separate award for Outstanding Achievement in Popular Film like they tried to launch a few years ago, though I would imagine savvy indies like A24 and Neon would also be competitive.

[willoneill]

The casting branch is relatively new; those folks were “members at large” before. So really the push needs to be for stunt coordinators to get their own branch, and then an award would follow suit. I agree that it’s long overdue, and would honestly be a more popular category to the awards broadcast than the three shorts awards, for example.

There’s always the argument about the show being too long, but I would move the shorts categories to the technical awards show, and bring in casting, stunts, and a single lifetime achievement Oscar to the main show. (And launch the Best Song Award into the sun forever, but that’s a different discussion.)

[felipe]

Especially when the industry has edged further towards tentpole movies requiring bigger and better stunts each outing as seemingly the only form of differentiation to justify their existence. People are paying money to see the stunts, and then to get the money shot of RDJ taking off his mask to make a quip, and then return to more stunts

I don't know but I feel like we ever only talk about stunts when there's a new Mission Impossible movie out. Everything else we just assume it was CGI nowadays, specially all the superhero movies that are made on a chroma key screen...

[knives]

That may be people’s perception, but even heavily CGI laden films like the Guardians movies have a massive team of stunt performers doing incredible work.

[Toland's Mitchell]

The casting branch is relatively new; those folks were “members at large” before. So really the push needs to be for stunt coordinators to get their own branch, and then an award would follow suit. I agree that it’s long overdue, and would honestly be a more popular category to the awards broadcast than the three shorts awards, for example.

There’s always the argument about the show being too long, but I would move the shorts categories to the technical awards show, and bring in casting, stunts, and a single lifetime achievement Oscar to the main show. (And launch the Best Song Award into the sun forever, but that’s a different discussion.)

Yes to all of this. Best Song is the main reason the show drags on too long, because it's the only category where all the losers get to take the stage, and the winner takes the stage twice. I say, at most, only the winner should get to perform their song and leave it at that (though I like the rocket to the sun idea, too).

As for stunts, they absolutely should have their own category. As beamish mentioned, it's an unbelievable amount of work and dedication. Furthermore, it also comes with by far the most occupational hazard in the industry. Stunt performers commonly sustain injuries, and on rare occasions, unfortunately a few of them lose their lives. Yet, it's one of the most thankless jobs. An Oscar category would be both a token of thanks/respect, and a would likely attract more viewers, as films with numerous stunts tend to be the more popular ones.

[TechnicolorAcid]

The oddest part about Best Song is that there is a Grammy for Best Song Written for a Visual Media so it’s not like the songwriters aren’t gonna get any recognition for their song work. I’m not asking to replace the song segments because I know some people like those live performances, but for the love of god, please replace the song segment with Best Stunt Choreography. They are criminally under appreciated for their work, are maybe the only major technical field unrecognized by the Oscars, and as others have pointed out, are the main reason a lot of people still watch stuff like action movies. The decision to not make it a category is honestly baffling.

[Mark L.]

I wouldn't be surprised if another reason the Academy has not adopted the stunt category is how big stunt teams can get. I'm not sure how other awards bodies handle it, but SAG doesn't even list the ensemble the way they list cast. It would be a shame if "the movie" just got the award or they gave it to the lead of the stunt department, but I guess that's how other below the line categories work.

[Matt]

As long as the Oscars are on a broadcast network, though, you’re going to have Best Song. They expect a Billie Eilish performance is going to reliably pull in viewers that would otherwise not watch. Or Lady Gaga or “Let It Go” from Frozen or Lin Manuel Miranda or even Sufjan Stevens. Problem is you’ve also got Diane Warren out there every year or the song from, like, The Trial of the Chicago 7 which few are going to care about.

I wouldn't be surprised if another reason the Academy has not adopted the stunt category is how big stunt teams can get. I'm not sure how other awards bodies handle it, but SAG doesn't even list the ensemble the way they list cast.

It’s the same problem with producers and Best Picture. You can have a dozen or more Exec Producers, Producers, Associate Producers and so forth on a film (Barbie has 15), so the Oscars cap it at four for the award. Same with costumes, make-up, visual effects, sound, production design, and so on. I’m sure a Best Stunts award would go to the top people in the credits and not every stunt performer in the film.

[knives]

Right, that’s why I said choreography. I figure the main choreographers would get it rather than the performers themselves.

[Toland's Mitchell]

Yeah, there's no way the Academy would hand out Oscar statues for every member of the stunt department (or for that matter, any below-the-line profession that already has an Oscar category). They'd have to make hundreds of statues. However, that's no reason not to have a category. I would say the sheer size of a stunt crew (especially on bigger films) is more of a reason to have a category...because it employs and represents a large number of people who work in the industry. Apparently there are thousands of stunt performers working in the show-business. I highly doubt there are that many casting directors.

[Fred Holywell]

BAFTA Awards: ‘Oppenheimer’ and ‘Poor Things’ Win Big

[therewillbeblus]

..soundchaser at a crossroads for Oscar picks

[soundchaser]

..soundchaser at a crossroads for Oscar picks

How did you know I was updating my spreadsheet today?

The years where I’ve done the best have been the ones where I’ve played it the safest, so I’ll probably just go with Oppenheimer for most of the big categories. But still plenty of time for the guild awards to lead me astray!

[therewillbeblus]

Well I think the question is what is "playing it safe" now? I thought the last few years' trend showed the BAFTAs more regularly breaking from the Oscars overlap, but maybe I'm wrong!

[TechnicolorAcid]

I think the biggest difference will probably be in what Killers of the Flower Moon will win since it surprisingly didn’t get nominated for much in this year’s Bafta awards. Really the only thing I probably will change is Makeup predictions for Poor Things which is just the obvious choice the more I think about it.