Reading Time: 7 minutes

2018-Oscars-Winners

We tend to say that the Oscars is the Super-bowl of Culture. In any case winning an Oscar is probably the highest achievement accomplished by an actor, director, or any related professional to the cinema industry. Here is everything you should know.

2018 Oscars winners

Here is the full list of the Oscars winners for this year. As we can see the great winners are The Shape of Water and Dunkirk.

  • Best Picture: “The Shape of Water”
  • Director: Guillermo del Toro, “The Shape of Water”
  • Actor: Gary Oldman, “Darkest Hour”
  • Actress: Frances McDormand, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
  • Supporting Actor: Sam Rockwell, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
  • Supporting Actress: Allison Janney, “I, Tonya”
  • Original Screenplay: “Get Out”
  • Adapted Screenplay: “Call Me by Your Name”
  • Foreign Language Film: “A Fantastic Woman”
  • Animated Feature: “Coco”
  • Visual Effects: “Blade Runner 2049”
  • Film Editing: “Dunkirk”
  • Animated Short: “Dear Basketball”
  • Live Action Short: “The Silent Child”
  • Documentary Short: “Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405”
  • Score: “The Shape of Water”
  • Song: “Remember Me” from “Coco”
  • Production Design: “The Shape of Water”
  • Cinematography: “Blade Runner 2049”
  • Costume Design: “Phantom Thread”
  • Makeup and Hairstyling: “Darkest Hour”
  • Documentary Feature: “Icarus”
  • Sound Editing: “Dunkirk”
  • Sound Mixing: “Dunkirk”

The Oscars Statuette, an icon of achievement

The Oscars statuette is probably one of the most recognizable awards in the world. According to the Academy Awards, until this year, 2’995 statuettes were presented during the 89 ceremonies hold so far. This year 24 new statuettes will find a legitimate and talented new owner. The first time the golden knight personnification was given to someone was in the initial awards banquet on May 16th 1929. Emil Jannings was named Best Actor for his amazing performance in “The Last Command” and “The Way of All Flesh“.

Emil-Jannings-first-oscar-ever

The Statuette was originally designed by MGM Art Director Cedric Gibbons. It is supposed to represent a  Gold knight holding a sword and standing on a reel of film. The film reel features five spokes, signifying the five original branches of the Academy: actors, directors, producers, technicians and writers. Although the statuette remains true to its original design, the size of the base varied until 1945, when the current standard was adopted. During the years, the statuette got some revamps and this year, for the 88th edition, it will have another makeover. The statuettes, which had been manufactured by Chicago company R.S. Owens since 1982, will now be made by Polich Tallix Fine Art Foundry in Rock Tavern, New York, known for its collaborations with artists and architects like Louise Bourgeois. As part of the switch, the statuette is going back to its roots with a design that incorporates details from George Stanley’s original creation.

oscar-statuette-plans oscar-statuette-sculpture oscar-statuette-polish

Since 1950, the statuettes have been legally encumbered by the requirement that neither winners nor their heirs may sell the statuettes without first offering to sell them back to the Academy for US$1. If a winner refuses to agree to this stipulation, then the Academy keeps the statuette. Academy Awards not protected by this agreement have been sold in public auctions and private deals for six-figure sums. In December 2011, Orson Welles’ 1941 Oscar for Citizen Kane (Best Original Screenplay) was put up for auction, after his heirs won a 2004 court decision contending that Welles did not sign any agreement to return the statue to the Academy. On December 20, 2011, it sold in an online auction for US$861,542.

Who is voting at the Oscars?

In order to vote for the Best Motion Picture or Best Director, you need to be part of the prestigious Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This membership will give you the rights to vote. In the first edition of the ceremony, only 230 voters participated in the awards allocation. Today they are 7’258 active members with voting rights. Can anyone be member of the Academy? Not exactly. To get into the Academy, first of all, you have to work in film production, according to the organization’s membership rules. So no press allowed, which makes the Academy Awards distinct from many annual-awards groups. A candidate has to be sponsored by two current members of the organization’s branch, which they hope to join. The Academy has 17 branches ranging from acting, directing, and writing to producers and executives. The largest segment of members is made up of actors, giving them an outsize influence on what ultimately wins. Here are the conditions to join the Academy if you are an Actor:

From Academy Bylaws:

Article III, Section 1.  Membership shall be by invitation of the Board of Governors.  Invitations to active membership shall be limited to those persons active in the motion picture arts and sciences, or credited with screen achievements, or who have otherwise achieved distinction in the motion picture arts and sciences and who, in the opinion of the Board, are qualified for membership.

To be considered for invitation to membership in the Actors Branch of the Academy, an individual must:

(a)  have a minimum of three theatrical feature film credits, in all of which the roles played were scripted roles, one of which was released in the past five years, and all of which are of a caliber that reflect the high standards of the Academy,

and/or

(b)  have been nominated for an Academy Award in one of the acting categories,

or

(c) have, in the judgment of the Actors Branch Executive Committee, otherwise achieved unique distinction, earned special merit or made an outstanding contribution as a motion picture actor.

Oscars-Members-list

Key facts of this year ceremony

The Oscars is a tremendous event, probably one of the most universal ones, together with the Olympic games. There are 255 countries live broadcasting the Oscars, no matter is the local time is in the morning, the afternoon or the middle of the night. The first TV broadcasted show was the 25th ceremony back in 1953. Here are some facts and figures for this year ceremony.

  • 3’300 seats: these are the number of seats you can find at the Dolby theater, the place hosting the Oscars ceremony.
  • 900 ft of Red: this is the length of the famous red carpet. This represents 275m which is a quite long distance in heels.
  • 1’804 journalists: Thousands of journalists coming from all over the world are accredited to cover the ceremony, pre-Oscars and post-Oscars.
  • USD 30 Million: this is the total cost of the ceremony including Jimmy Kimmel’s fee (that according to the Hollywood reporter was around 15’000USD last year).
  • 13 nominations: Guillermo Del Toro The Shape of Water got the highest number of nominations this year. We predict they might win best picture, actress, supporting actress and director.
  • Brits rock: This year the Best actor category is fully dominated by Britain actors: Daniel Kaluuya for Get Out, Daniel Day Lewis for Phantom Thread and Gary Oldman for . In total there are 30 Britain artists nominated this year including Christopher Nolan.
  • Women and Black are not quite there yet: Greta Gerwig is only the 5th woman to ever be nominated for directing – it’d be a poignant win in a year dominated by calls for equality, and Jordan Peele’s only the fifth black director to be nominated for his brilliant indie horror Get Out.
  • 34 times: the number of times that Harvey Weinstein was thanked in acceptance speeches at the Oscars according to analysis in 2015 – he was thanked more than God, but came second to Steven Spielberg.

This year, it will be again a fantastic edition and many dreams will come true and some of them might inspire millions of people to perhaps one day hear one’s name after the famous sentence: “and the Oscars goes to….” Good dream.

José Amorim

Info sourced at the Oscars official website and communication, Forbes, New York Times, Financial Times, hollywoodreporter.com, star2.com, wikipedia, Vanity Fair and ABC.com.

EnregistrerEnregistrer