Tag: oscars

Who was Oscar? The story of Emilio Fernández

Once again, as the Academy Awards are less than a week away, Oscar fever is reaching a frenzy. This time, we turn our attention to the statuettes themselves. Who was Oscar? Why is he naked and holding a sword? Pop culture radio website Studio 360 recently unearthed the story of the man on which the … Continue reading “Who was Oscar? The story of Emilio Fernández”

Once again, as the Academy Awards are less than a week away, Oscar fever is reaching a frenzy. This time, we turn our attention to the statuettes themselves. Who was Oscar? Why is he naked and holding a sword?

Pop culture radio website Studio 360 recently unearthed the story of the man on which the award is based. His name was Emilio Fernández, and he was a notable Mexican actor whose tumultuous life led him from rebellion during the Mexican Revolution to directing the Cannes-winning María Candelaria. His close work with film star Delores del Río put him in contact with Cedric Gibbons, the artist who designed the Oscar. Fernández modeled for the award, and after the design was sculpted by George Stanley, Fernández’s contribution was largely forgotten.

This doesn’t explain the name Oscar or the sword-wielding nudity, but it is a fascinating story that’s well worth a listen. We look forward to watching the Fernándezes this Sunday!

We’d like to thank the Academy for this infographic

The Oscars are almost upon us, and with only a little over one week to go (!), the floodgates have opened on Oscar trivia. Every year we find a new batch of unusual award-related studies, like last year’s breakdown of trailer lengths. This year, Slate has analyzed twelve years of actors’ and actresses’ Academy Awards … Continue reading “We’d like to thank the Academy for this infographic”

The Oscars are almost upon us, and with only a little over one week to go (!), the floodgates have opened on Oscar trivia. Every year we find a new batch of unusual award-related studies, like last year’s breakdown of trailer lengths.

This year, Slate has analyzed twelve years of actors’ and actresses’ Academy Awards acceptance speeches and determined who gets thanked the most. Industry organizations, companies, and agents received the most praise, though most nominees immediately thanked the Academy upon receiving their statue. A decent number of winners thanked their role’s namesake, but only one (Javier Bardem) thanked a specific country. It’s a fun breakdown to see who appears most in the Oscar spotlight.

And yes, as the article title mentions, Meryl Streep has been thanked more times than all religious entities. This is what happens when you get nominated every year.

The Random Oscar Winner Generator is hilarious, necessary

We still have over a month to go before the Oscars, but we’re already excited! Questions about their authority aside, the Academy Awards are a fun time to celebrate nearly a century of great films. Let’s be serious though: there’s a lot of hot air involved too. With so many award contenders dealing with serious … Continue reading “The Random Oscar Winner Generator is hilarious, necessary”

We still have over a month to go before the Oscars, but we’re already excited! Questions about their authority aside, the Academy Awards are a fun time to celebrate nearly a century of great films.

Let’s be serious though: there’s a lot of hot air involved too. With so many award contenders dealing with serious themes, sometimes it’s necessary to make fun of the whole endeavour.

To this end, Time’s excellent Random Oscar Winner Generator is a goldmine. Using keywords culled from IMDb for all previous Best Picture nominees, this web widget creates convincing-sounding descriptions for borderline-generic prestige movies. It’s a highly entertaining way to look at the types of films that Hollywood likes to reward, many of which apparently feature gay piano players and orphans from Manhattan.

It’s all in good fun of course, but it’s also vaguely educational. Hopefully this takes some of the bluster out of the buildup to March 2nd.

Seasonal question: How are the Oscar nominees picked?

In case you missed it, the Oscar nominees came out this morning. By all accounts it’s a pretty good list, featuring a wide cut of the most acclaimed films of the year. And Matthew McConaughey stands a chance to win his first Oscar! The question, of course, is how these nominees were even selected. Is … Continue reading “Seasonal question: How are the Oscar nominees picked?”

In case you missed it, the Oscar nominees came out this morning. By all accounts it’s a pretty good list, featuring a wide cut of the most acclaimed films of the year. And Matthew McConaughey stands a chance to win his first Oscar!

The question, of course, is how these nominees were even selected. Is it a public vote? Is it a shadowy cabal? Is it just a computer? Realistically, it’s a combination of all three.

The good folks at mental_floss have explained in detail how a film goes from a submission to a nominee. The process is surprisingly complicated, involving voting blocs and formulas that set the threshold for potential nominee. This explains why some of the technical categories only get three or four nominees in some years.

If you were ever curious about what happens in this mysterious process [and why Inside Llewyn Davis was robbed! -ed.], give mental_floss’s article a read for a clearer look. As for the final voting, that’s an entirely different and much more political contest.

It’s the Oscars!

The Oscars are tonight! After weeks of buildup, speculation, and the most use of the word “Argo” on record, the Academy will reveal the results of the most prestigious and contentious film awards ceremony at 8pm in the Dolby Theatre. We’re very excited in Media Services, if you couldn’t tell from our weeks of Academy … Continue reading “It’s the Oscars!”

The Oscars are tonight! After weeks of buildup, speculation, and the most use of the word “Argo” on record, the Academy will reveal the results of the most prestigious and contentious film awards ceremony at 8pm in the Dolby Theatre. We’re very excited in Media Services, if you couldn’t tell from our weeks of Academy Award-related posts.

Naturally, many of the films nominated for awards are still in theaters, so we can’t really advertise them in our collection. But now is as good of a time as any to look back at big winners from previous years. Our Pinterest page has a list of all the Best Picture winners in our collection, with only a few missing (some of the older winners have not been released on DVD). Everyone’s immediately familiar with The Artist and Slumdog Millionaire given their recent wins, but have you seen The Sting or Midnight Cowboy lately?

We’ll be around all evening. If you don’t feel like watching the ceremony or need to detox from the awards season, come grab one of the 82 winners in our collection. (Or 83 if Argo wins!)

The New York Times breaks down Oscar trailer timelines

The art of the crafting a movie trailer has recently become a science. Every smash cut, cliffhanger, fade to black, and fancy shot of an actor’s name has been reduced to a formula that seemingly every studio follows. The New York Times adds a new wrinkle to that analysis by splitting apart trailers for this … Continue reading “The New York Times breaks down Oscar trailer timelines”

The art of the crafting a movie trailer has recently become a science. Every smash cut, cliffhanger, fade to black, and fancy shot of an actor’s name has been reduced to a formula that seemingly every studio follows.

The New York Times adds a new wrinkle to that analysis by splitting apart trailers for this year’s Best Picture-nominated films based on when its scenes appear in the movie. A basic formula seems to exist: follow the movie chronologically to introduce the characters and plot, then end with a series of quick cuts through the middle and end to show the major action. With some variance, Silver Linings Playbook and Beasts of the Southern Wild follow this outline fairly closely.

Then there’s ones like Lincoln and Amour that skip around wildly with seemingly no attention to the film’s timeline. Stephen Garrett, a trailer producer that the Times interviewed, suggests that these trailers focus less on the plot than the tone of the movie. They don’t need to follow the plot order if they’re just suggesting a mood.

It’s interesting to see how filmmakers choose to portray their works. Argo is about a story. Amour is about a feeling.

Burning question: Does Best Picture matter?

With all the Oscar hullabaloo (of which we’re guilty as well), it’s easy to accept that the Oscars matter, that the acting winners represent the fines that Hollywood offers, and that an institution as venerated as the Academy is the official tastemaker. Take a step back and read this interesting and controversial opinion from Rob … Continue reading “Burning question: Does Best Picture matter?”

With all the Oscar hullabaloo (of which we’re guilty as well), it’s easy to accept that the Oscars matter, that the acting winners represent the fines that Hollywood offers, and that an institution as venerated as the Academy is the official tastemaker.

Take a step back and read this interesting and controversial opinion from Rob Lowman of the L.A. Daily News. Lowman rightfully argues that past Best Picture winners have not stood the test of time and greatness compared to other nominees. Everyone has an example they can point to. 2001: A Space Odyssey, for example, was not even nominated for Best Picture and lost to a largely forgotten Oliver Twist musical. Lowman calls out Rocky – a fine film – for beating legendary directors Sidney Lumet and Ingmar Bergman for Best Director.

Awards voting is always subjective, and Lowman seems to have a particular axe to grind with Oscar frontrunner Argo, but his point is valid. Flavors of the moment and popular consensus do tend to cloud judgment, and the Academy’s track record is spotty. But the Academy gets it right more often than not: there’s good reason Patton won over Love Story.

Watch Academy Award-winning short films right now

The 85th Academy Awards kick off one week from tonight. We’ll have plenty of lists of past winners and nominees in the coming weeks, but for now, let’s direct attention to the lesser-heralded short film catagories. Since 1932, the Academy has honored short films in a number of categories, including documentaries and animation. Though they … Continue reading “Watch Academy Award-winning short films right now”

The 85th Academy Awards kick off one week from tonight. We’ll have plenty of lists of past winners and nominees in the coming weeks, but for now, let’s direct attention to the lesser-heralded short film catagories.

Since 1932, the Academy has honored short films in a number of categories, including documentaries and animation. Though they have never received the same critical acclaim as Best Picture hopefuls, Short Film and Short Subject nominees are as creative and worthwhile as they are comparatively brief.

Pop culture aggregator Flavorwire recently compiled a short list of Oscar-winning short films that are available for free to watch online. If you have half an hour to spare, sit down and watch a few of them to get an idea of what some of the less-heralded Oscar categories hold in store.

The Oscars: Will you be tweeting tonight?

The Oscars are on tonight at 7pm. Will you be watching? If so, will you be tweeting about it too? Word on the street is that tonight there may be some record numbers in social media usage involving tonight’s award ceremony. Many celebrities are expected to be tweeting, some from behind the scenes at the … Continue reading “The Oscars: Will you be tweeting tonight?”


The Oscars are on tonight at 7pm. Will you be watching? If so, will you be tweeting about it too? Word on the street is that tonight there may be some record numbers in social media usage involving tonight’s award ceremony. Many celebrities are expected to be tweeting, some from behind the scenes at the Oscars, some from the red carpet and others from their couches. Tons of non-celebrity TV viewers are expected to be tweeting and Facebook posting their opinions on various aspects of the Oscars throughout the course of the event.

There is quite a busy Oscars site with plenty of things to keep you occupied as you watch the ceremony. This includes a Backstage Pass page with photos and videos designed to give you the “insider’s experience”. There’s plenty of fuel here for all your social media activities this evening.

There’s even a free Oscars App which is also designed to provide you with some sort of insider’s view of all the excitement. I actually just downloaded it out of curiosity and at first glance, it’s similar to the Oscar website and appears to more or less be a source for all the little behind the scenes videos you may or may not have an interest in watching.

To learn more about social media and the Oscars, check out this article from the Wall Street Journal and check out the video below.

A Social Media Guide to the Oscars

Check out one of these nominated titles from the Media Services Home Use Collection:
Rise of the Planet of the Apes – HU DVD 9337
Bridesmaids – HU DVD 9104
The Help – HU DVD 9309
Tree of Life – HU DVD 9230
Moneyball – HU DVD 9419
Midnight in Paris – HU DVD 9410

The Oscar illustration above was done by a Media Services staff member.

Start predicting next year’s winners…

Here are some of the leading contenders in the next hopeful Academy Award Winners. Which one is most likely to win? http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/awards/2011/03/poll-what-will-win-best-picture-at-the-next-oscars.html

Here are some of the leading contenders in the next hopeful Academy Award Winners. Which one is most likely to win?

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/awards/2011/03/poll-what-will-win-best-picture-at-the-next-oscars.html