How to use this Page

It’s not often you come away from an awards show thinking “Man those title cards were amazing!” but that’s exactly what I thought while watching the Oscars on Sunday. Everything about the graphics used to introduce the nominees was spot on — from the gorgeously curated objects used for the Production Design nominees to the lovely photos morphing into line drawings used for the in memoriam.

I wasn’t alone in my admiration. And Deadline has a profile of the man behind it: commercial director and Oscar design vet Henry Hobson who is about to make his feature film directing debut. Hobson worked with a variety of talented producers and production houses to introduce a bracingly modern and startlingly stylish look too something that people see for literally five seconds.

Those title cards showing the 3D elements of the visual effects category? The makeup swipes that transformed the actors to their characters? The Best Picture montage from Birdman‘s silhouette fluttering away to the voting ballot from Selma that turned from white to black? It was Hobson, visual producer Lee Lodge and design/production house Elastic who brought it all to life. (How lucky is Maggie‘s financier Lotus Entertainment and its distribs Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions to be able to tap Hobson’s talent for the film’s marketing materials?)

Hobson is quick to give credit all around. “The charge from (producers) Craig (Zadan) and Neil (Meron) was to make each category stand out and as much as possible and not to rely on clips because the audience gets turned off after awhile,” he said. “This year, I wanted to mix it up a bit, so I worked with Elastic for the first time. We had 23 out of 24 categories this year, and we wanted to showcase the uniqueness of each event.” He worked closely with Jennifer Sofio Hall, a producer at Elastic.

Hobson also worked with production designer Derek McLane with Hobson, Lodge and Elastic to recreate the Edmond Pettus bridge set where Common and John Legend sang “Glory,” which had almost everyone watching it in tears.

Here’s a video montage of Hobson’s designs for the title cards for the eight Best Picture nominees. Call it post Saul Bass/Milton Glaser.

Best Picture Oscar Nomination Title Sequence – 2015 from henry hobson directing & design on Vimeo.

Hobson has gotten a ton of attention for his work, including a fascintating interview on Slate where he reveals he such an Alan turing fan that he had reserved alanturing.com back in the 90s.

Sadly I can’t find any large images of his title cards, but you can get an idea of his fusion of classic and modern design sensibilities.

Hobson’s first film, Maggie, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Abigail Breslin, comes out in the Spring. While the casting may make you think it’s a “Professional” riff, t’s an offbeat zombie story about a father who stays by the side of a girl who’s been infected. Pretty sure it will look amazing.

…a movie based on a superhero comic book won a best picture Oscar last night.

Is it over? Can I start figuring out my March Madness brackets?

No? SIGH The things I do in my spare time…

11:04   HAHAHAHAHA!   Original Song.  But two weren’t performed?  Selma.  And we learn their real names!  Great speeches!

http://bcove.me/cdvetbdo

What’s left?  Score.  Two writing awards.  Two acting awards.  Director.  Picture.  And Lady Gaga.

11:13  Song of Music?  Really…  Wow.  Lady Gaga.   Never would I have imagined.   WOW.  She’s got pipes!  Grammys, and now Oscars.  She’s having a great year.

Oh wow….   pardon me… allergies acting up again…

11:20   Best Original Score:  The Grand Budapest Hotel

11:29  Eddie Murphy   (James Brown intro?)   Original Screenplay:  Birdman (spoiler!)  Is this the greatest number of winners for screenplay?  Usually, the more credited writers, the worse the screenplay.

11:33  Oprah Winfrey  (The Spy Who Loved Me intro?)   Best Adapted Screenplay: The Imitation Game.  (It would have been nice had they shown the actual book covers…)  Great speech!   Seen the movie?  Read the book!

11:41  Ben Affleck (I’ve got you under my skin intro?)  Best Director: Birdman

11:45  Three to go…

11:47   Best Actor.  Nice basic simple dress.  Eddie Redmayne.  The Theory of Everything.

11:53  (Eye of the Tiger?)  Best Actress:  Julianne Moore, Still Alice.

12:00  Magic Act.  Nice tux.

12:03  Best Picture.  Sean Penn.  Birdman

12:08  And we’re done!    Whoever did the titles…. give them a Key Award!  12:12 AM

I’ve got to concentrate… concentrate… concentrate… Hello?… hello… hello… Echo… echo… echo… Pinch hitting for Pedro Borbon… Manny Mota… Mota… Mota…

It’s Ten PM here… this should, in a perfect world, be the last hour of the telecast.
It would be, if the show started at 7 PM, and ran to form. We’d be watching the major awards being presented, recipients would have plenty of time to talk and generate memorable moments, and it would all end before 11 PM, possibly even 10:30.

But typing this at 4:50 PM, I doubt we won’t see any majors until 10:30, if we’re lucky. Let’s see if that’s true.

10:00  Rita Ora.

10:02   Nine awards of 24 so far.   It’s gonna be a long night.

10:03   Visual effects.  Interstellar.  A shoutout to the scientists!

10:06  Animated Short.  (Nice dress!)  Feast.

All The Dresses Of Best Actress Oscar Winners Since 1929 http://www.fastcodesign.com/3027082/all-the-dresses-of-best-actress-oscar-winners-since-1929

Halfway done…  (yeah… right…)

9:07 Wait… J.K. that’s the insurance guy?!? Mind blown!

9:09  And I’ve got signal!  We’ll see how long Direct TV works…   What’s with the Oscars on Spikes?  Rather morbid.

9:10  Foreign Film   IDA.   HA!  Great speech!

(And Budapest won Makeup.)

9:14   ABC.com’s feed is about a minute behind the tv feed.

9:17   “escargots”  ha!   ooh…  LEGo!  oh my…   holee…   Oprah…  the Possum beats the Super Bowl sharks!

WOW!  Love the Devo Lego hat!  And Batman!  That… that might have won the Emmy for the telecast.

9:25   Short film… The Phone Call.  Heh…   fun speech!

9:28   Documentary short…  Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1  Great dresses!

9:31  Viola Davis.  Lifetime awards!  Wow…  that’s an incredible class!  Maureen O’Hara!  Hayao Miyazaki!  Jean-Claude Carriere!  Harry Belafonte!

9:35  Yes, rawther!  Much nicer in a British accent!

9:36  Damn….  not fair!  Tim McGraw.  Why are the most romantic songs country western songs?  (Pardon me… allergies are acting up.)

9:43  HA!     And now the techie awards!  Did you take a drink when they said “voxel”?

9:46  Sound Mixing: Whiplash!  $3 Million dollars, short production time.  Amazing.

9:48   Sound Editing:  American Sniper.

9:51   Supporting Actress.   (Heh…  good intro!)  Wow.. great clips.  Patricia Arquette, Boyhood   (First political statement?)

9:58  That social network monologue from Birdman needs to go viral!

And it’s 8 PM!  What’s next?

8 PM… what’s with those red Nazi latex gloves?

8:05   Jeff Goldblum looks like he stepped out of a 1950s think tank!

8:07  Ed Norton is having a good year!  Birdman and Grand Budapest!

8:08  Big Hero 6!  Baymax is getting lots of love! Yay, #diversity!

8:11 I like how the red carpet big names get interviewed, and then ABC transfers inside to chat with the “other” nominees!  Those chats are actually better!

8:13  Zoe Saldana is presenting Best Animated Feature, and she was very diplomatic!  Nice simple dress.

Is that Eddie Murphy’s wife?  Wow.  Stunning.

8:18  That’s a great history of Oscar by Robert Osborne!

8:20 Felicity Jones looks stunning!  Can’t wait to see the selfies!

8:25   F!  Direct TV is not working…  so I’m stuck to backstage.    There’s the voice of god telling people to sit down.  I guess they use the big opening number to allow people to get to their seats before the awards start?

8:30  Nice film about Neil Patrick Harris!

8:43  No surprise there…  Best Supporting Actor J.K. Simmons.

8:48  Briefcase?  Not submerged in water?  ABC.com has the NPH briefcase cam, so you can see how the stage is being prepped.

8:51  I like the three-ring circus stage!

8:54  During the commercials, the lights go low, and people mingle in the aisles.

8:57  And everyone races back to their seats!

8:59  Grand Budapest for Costume Design.

If you look closely, you’ll see Hope, Crosby, and Lamour in the back…

And we’re off… but we have to wait 90 minutes for the show to start.

Geez….  start it at 7, let it run four hours, end it on time, everyone’s happy.

Seriously, you can’t get the butts in seats by 4 PM local time?  How long does it take to get ready?  It’s not like billions of people are watching you on live TV, or taking thousands of photos on the red carpet….

I’ll try not to be too snarky….

…and my Direct TV box is being troublesome.

7:10  Wow… Melanie Griffith looks good for her age!

7:15   Dianne Warren?  Cool….

7:20   Patricia Arquette.   Great dress!  I think the rain is wrecking havoc on hairstyles!

7:27  Body armor….  bejewelled bodices.

7:30  American Sniper, Boyhood…  “family”  Great directors keep talented individuals for each production.

7:40  The newleyweds look VERY stylish!  Like they stepped out of the 1930s!

7:55  Stephen Hawking was in Les Mis!

Full story here: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cocaine-snorting-oscar-statuette-appears-775594

It’s Oscar Sunday!  As I type, Hollywood’s royalty, gentry, serfs, and court jesters are preparing for the second most harrowing live event of their lives.  (The First?  Hosting Saturday Night Live.  Heckling, via Internet and smartphones.)

We here at Stately Beat Manor are preparing as well.  I’ll be your host this evening, liveblogging the event as it happens!  (If my aging cable box holds out.  I may have to stream them…or watch it backstage.)

So… it’s now 2:50 PM ET.  They officially start at 7 PM.  The show begins usually at 8:30.

As a kid, the Oscars were always on Mondays.  Before the show, Barbara Walters would have an hour special where she would interview three celebrities.  Then the show would start at 9, go over the time limit, and people complained.   Me, as a kid, realized…  get rid of Walters and start it at 8 PM!  Three hours to hand out the awards!  Eventually, they did, and it still ended late.  Then I got to wondering, why not show it on Sundays, with four hours of Prime Time?  So they did… but does the show start at 7/4?  Nope.  It starts at 8:30 PM!  90 minutes are wasted on the red carpet!  Seriously…  move that to the pregame…  say 5-7 PM, then go right into the show.  (Actually, ABC starts Oscar programming at 4PM.)  Program it like the Super Bowl.  Curtains rise at 7, you get 30 minutes of monologue or opening number, and then start handing out the naked men.  Four awards an hour.  Group them in pairs for presenters to make it more efficient:  supporting acting, writing, music, short film, documentary, makeup and costume, sound…   It might even be possible to do three of those doubles in one hour!  Each hour, there’s something glitzy.  Musical performance, tributes

Hey…  what do local affiliates on the West Coast show after the Oscars end at 8ish PM?  ABC should fill that with Jimmy Kimmel, live feeds from the parties, analysis, ending at 10 PM local time.  Which is 1 AM East Coast time.  Nine hours of Oscar programming!

Here’s an even better idea…. Oscar Week!  The week before, ABC would air specials about each category.  Interview the nominees, discuss the skill and art behind what they do, anecdotes, yadda yadda.  The major categories, you make it a two-hour special, ending with Best Picture on Saturday.  In a way, ABC would be programming this like the Olympics!  (And Hollywood studios would sponsor it by advertising coming attractions!)  Also, the Sunday before, ABC hosts a two-hour “In Memorium” special which features almost everyone, and directs to a special page at Oscars.org with detailed biographies.

Okay…  4:15.  I’m going to prep the other pages now.   Feel free to comment as I live blog.  Enter the time, so we can all keep track!  I’ll be back at 7 PM when the show starts!

Ms. Megawatt, Catwoman and Green Goblin, Wolverine… Next up, the Music Meister!

[No comics content here.  This falls under “pop culture” and general geekery. ]

So, your waistline (and gastrointestinal tract) has recovered from the Super Bowl.  You’re sick and tired of the weather.  You seek another diversion.  Well, tomorrow, Hollywood holds their soiree, handing out Oscar statuettes (“Academy Awards of Merit”, according to the rule book).

Situated right before March Madness, the Oscars allow for a warm-up to the office pools which proliferate during the NCAA tournament, and give the sports widows something to watch before hubby disappears into his mancave.

But… how to pick the winners?  The Academy has frequently been criticized for ignoring blockbusters, as most geeks realize when their favorite movies are relegated to the special effects category.  Sure, there is the glitz, the celebrity star power, but overall, the Oscars are a bit boring.  (But, then, so is football.)

So, unless you live in a major metropolitan area, the following nominees are probably the first time you’ve heard, let alone seen, of them. (Although, with the growing number of independent movie theaters, major studio sponsorship, and film festivals, it’s getting easier.  Gone are the days of waiting for Blockbuster to stock a copy!)

Here’s the technique I use, and my picks.  I don’t know what Nate Silver likes, and I’m not a cinema geek, so take the following with whatever disdain and cynicism you use when reading online.  Of course, feel free to share your comments below!

• Consideration #1: Did Oscar snub a particular film which was later lauded by a guild?
• Consideration #2: Which did the guilds select as winners?
• Consideration #3:  What’s the buzz?  What did BAFTA and others pick?
• Observation #4: If a movie is nominated for Best Picture, and Best Animated Feature or Best Foreign Film, the movie will not win Best Picture, but will win BAF or BFF.

But before we delve into the nominees…  The five films nominated for Best Animated Short Film:

The Bigger Picture

Daisy Jacobs and Christopher Hees

This won the BAFTA for British Animated Film.  It’s quite clever, using what could be described as 2.5-D animation.  The figures are painted on the walls, while in a 3-D environment.  The story is a bit bleak, and didn’t affect me.

The Dam Keeper

Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi

These animators are Pixar alumni.  An interesting locale, a main character weighted with responsibility and harassment,  and a new friendship.  The setting is lush and the story a bit simple, but well worth a watch.  A possible spoiler, given the Pixar connection.

Feast

Patrick Osborne and Kristina Reed

The front-runner and most-seen.  This Disney Animation short preceded “Big Hero 6″ (nominated for Best Animated Feature), and tells the story of a dog, his stomach, and his heart.  Given the strong PR push before the movie, I was a bit disappointed in the actual story.  Maybe I’ve see it so many times from Disney/Pixar, and expect something more.  Overall, it’s a good film, and I won’t be disappointed if it wins.

Me and My Moulton

Torill Kove

Kove previously won an Oscar for “The Danish Poet” in 2007, and was also nominated for the biographical “My Grandmother Ironed the King’s Shirts” in 1999.  This reminiscence deals with growing up with two unusual parents, the best friend who lives below, and how what seems perfect sometimes isn’t.

A Single Life

Joris Oprins

Pia plays a record, and discovers she can use it to time travel through her life.

I enjoyed this short (which it was…. only three minutes!), but it might not be meaty enough for Academy voters.   If you’d like to recreate the cartoon, you can order the single here.  I do hope they make a cartoon for the B side!

If you see the ShortsHD anthology in the theater, there are four “commended” films:

• Sweet Cocoon  (with a predictable ending)
• Footprints (Bill Plympton)
• Duet (Glen Keane’s first directorial cartoon, and my favorite of all nine!  Funded by Google!)
• Bus Story (A young woman dreams of being a rural bus driver.)

The Numberlys, Symphony No. 42, and Coda were shortlisted along with the five nominees and “Footprints”, but were not included in the anthology.

— — —

And now for our feature presentation…

Best Picture:

American Sniper
Birdman   [Producers Guild, Screen Actors Guild cast]
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
—

Best Director:

Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Birdman  [Directors Guild…strong predictor]
Richard Linklater, Boyhood  [BAFTA]
Morten Tyldum, The Imitation Game
Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher
—

Best Actor:

Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper, American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton, Birdman
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything  [Screen Actors Guild, BAFTA]
—

Best Actress:

Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore, Still Alice  [Screen Actors Guild, BAFTA]
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon, Wild
—

Best Supporting Actor:

Robert Duvall, The Judge
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
Edward Norton, Birdman
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons, Whiplash  [Screen Actors Guild, BAFTA]
—

Best Supporting Actress:

Patricia Arquette, Boyhood  [Screen Actors Guild, BAFTA]
Laura Dern, Wild
Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Emma Stone, Birdman
Meryl Streep, Into The Woods
—

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Damien Chazelle, Whiplash
Jason Hall, American Sniper
Graham Moore, The Imitation Game  [Writers Guild]
Anthony McCarten, The Theory of Everything  [BAFTA]
Paul Thomas Anderson, Inherent Vice
—

Best Original Screenplay:

Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness, The Grand Budapest Hotel  [Writers Guild, BAFTA]
E. Max Frye & Dan Futterman, Foxcatcher
Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris Jr, Armando Bo, Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
—

Best Animated Feature:

Big Hero 6  [Visual Effects Society 5x, Cinema Audio Society, Motion Picture Sound Editors]
The Boxtrolls
How To Train Your Dragon 2 [Annies]
Song of the Sea
The Tale of Princess Kaguya

[Producers Guild, America Cinema Editors, BAFTA selected The Lego Movie.]
—

Best Documentary Feature:

CITIZENFOUR [BAFTA, Directors Guild, America Cinema Editors]
Last Days In Vietnam
Virunga
Finding Vivian Maier
The Salt of the Earth
—

Best Original Song:

“Everything is Awesome,” The Lego Movie
“Glory,” Selma
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You,” Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me
“Lost Stars,” Begin Again
“Grateful,” Beyond the Lights
—

Best Film Editing:

American Sniper
Boyhood  [America Cinema Editors]
The Imitation Game
Whiplash [BAFTA]
The Grand Budapest Hotel [America Cinema Editors]
—

Best Cinematography:

Emmanuel Lubezki, Birdman  [BAFTA, ASC]
Ryszard Lenczewski and Łukasz Żal, Ida
Dick Pope, Mr. Turner
Robert D. Yeoman, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Roger Deakins, Unbroken
—

Best Costume Design:

Colleen Atwood, Into The Woods [Costume Designers Guild: Fantasy]
Milena Canonero, The Grand Budapest Hotel [BAFTA, Costume Designers Guild: Period]
Jacqueline Durran, Mr. Turner
Anna B. Sheppard, Maleficent
Mark Bridges, Inherent Vice

[Birdman won the CDG for Contemporary Film.]

[My gut says ItW deserves it, but wouldn’t be surprised if TGBH wins.]
—

Best Production Design:

The Grand Budapest Hotel [BAFTA, Art Directors Guild: Period Film]
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Into The Woods
Mr. Turner

[Guardians of the Galaxy and Birdman won the ADGs for Fantasy and Contemporary movies.]
—

Best Animated Short:

The Bigger Picture [BAFTA]
The Dam Keeper
Feast [Annies]
Me and My Moulton
A Single Life
—

Best Live Action Short:

Aya
Boogaloo and Graham
The Phone Call
Butter Lamp
Parvaneh
—

Best Documentary Short:

Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
Joanna
Our Curse
The Reaper (La Parka)
White Earth
—

Best Sound Editing:

American Sniper  [MPSE FX]
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Interstellar
Birdman [MPSE Music]
Unbroken [MPSE Dialogue]

[I’m picking Birdman on the expectation that there will be a run.]
—

Best Sound Mixing:

American Sniper
Birdman [Cinema Audio Society]
Interstellar
Unbroken
Whiplash [BAFTA]
—

Best Visual Effects:

Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes [Visual Effects Society]
Guardians of the Galaxy
Interstellar
X-Men: Days of Future Past
—

Best Foreign Language Film:

Ida (Poland)
Leviathan (Russia)
Tangerines (Estonia)
Timbuktu (Mauritania)
Wild Tales (Argentina)
—

Best Makeup and Hairstyling:

Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel [BAFTA]  [2 MUAHS awards]
Guardians of the Galaxy [2 MUAHS awards]

[I think GotG deserves it, just because of sheer variety.  But TGBH will probably win it based on: its period research, aged AMPAS membership, consolation prize for getting trounced by Birdman.]
—

Best Original Score:

Alexandre Desplat, The Grand Budapest Hotel  [BAFTA]
Alexandre Desplat, The Imitation Game
Johann Johannsson, The Theory of Everything
Hans Zimmer, Interstellar
Gary Yershon, Mr. Turner
—

There’s quite a bit of discussion today regarding today’s Oscar nominations (I remain very sad for Ava DuVernay’s snub in the Best Director category), but let’s talk about the stuff that’s collectively of greater interest to the readership of The Beat, because there’s great work to celebrate there too!

Here are the nominations that include films that are based on comics, or have some kind of comics/cartooning based slant:

The lack of a nod for The Lego Movie is surprising given the critical and popular acclaim, but if I had to bet money on one, it’d be The Tale of Princess Kaguya. But, Big Hero 6 may surprise here, given that it was a huge hit and perhaps may have engendered more screener viewings from members of the Academy.

Best Short Film (Animated)
“The Bigger Picture”
“The Dam Keeper”
“Feast”
“Me and My Moulton”
“A Single Life”

And regarding this category, it’s sadly one of my big blind spots. Feast, being under the Disney brand, seems a likely choice as any.

Time to get your betting pools together, the 2015 Academy Awards will be held on February 22nd.