The Oscars are to film buffs what the Superbowl is to sports fans. Which is why it’s no surprise that campus is buzzing with pseudo-bookies trying to make a quick buck off Oscar pools.
The thing is, with the Academy Awards less than a week away, it’s safe to say that the frontrunners in the major categories appear to be locked up. The surefire way to take home the top prize in your pool is by getting points in the technical categories--the ones that even the most devout cinephiles use as an excuse for a bathroom break. So without further ado, here’s Street’s guide to the obscure Oscar categories that will make and break you.
Art Direction: This category is about how a film looks, which goes down to the set design and the production design. The winners of this categories have been pretty varied recently, but the frontrunners tend to have lush sets and bold lighting. The King’s Speech was a gorgeous movie, and so it’s definitely a strong contender. But even though it isn’t nominated for Best Picture, we wouldn’t rule out Alice in Wonderland, since the movie’s overall look is what made it stand out for audiences.
Cinematography: This award is all about the camera: how it moves, what lenses are used, how shots are framed and so forth. We’d narrow this category down to Inception’s Wally Pfister and True Grit’s Roger Deakins. Though Inception already won the American Society of Cinematographers award, only four of the last 10 ASC winners have received Oscars. Besides, Deakins has been nominated nine times and has yet to win, and the Academy can’t resist stories like that.
Costume Design: This one almost always goes to a period movie, since costume design can make or break a movie’s authenticity. The conventional wisdom would be to vote for The King’s Speech. But the ornate, stunning costumes created for Alice in Wonderland will hardly be ignored by Oscar voters, so that’s our pick. And besides, for the last five years, the winner of this category hasn’t been nominated for Best Picture.
Film Editing: We hate to even consider film editing to be a “minor” technical category, since the way shots are combined is such a major part of how a movie is received. The clear frontrunner seemed to be Inception, but it didn’t make the nominations list. The Fighter has history on its side, since both Rocky and Raging Bull have won this award. But we’re tempted to go with The Social Network, which could win this one as a consolation prize for losing Best Picture.
Makeup: The nominees for this category are all so differ ent that it’s hard to say what the Academy will be thinking. Genre films and sci-fi films have had such a lock on this category that we can’t see it going to any film but The Wolfman — especially since the film’s makeup artist Rick Baker has won the award six times already.
Sound Mixing: The best way to explain sound mixing is that someone sits in a studio and combines recorded sounds to make sure that a footstep isn’t louder than a gunshot, and that a close footstep is louder than a far footstep. There are also other more technical aspects, but frankly, that first sentence puts you ahead of the majority of Academy voters. The winners of this category are often bigger blockbusters or movies that rely heavily on music. If you had to press us now, we’d say Inception has this one locked up.
Sound Editing: This is all about the sound effects themselves, which is why so many thrillers and war movies have taken home the trophy in the past few years. Inception also seems to be the likely bet here, though it’s possible that TRON: Legacy could pull off an upset.
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Visual Effects: For the first time, there are five nominees for this category. And unsurprisingly, they’re all major Hollywood blockbusters with major CGI effects (and major budgets). Remember the street folding scene in Inception? Remember the crumbling city in Limbo? Take a guess at who the Oscar’s going to.
