Oscars: Original Score

The score of a film can make or break it. It is the goal of a film to swell in all the right ways, convey emotion, and unite every aspect of the film through music. Judging a score hasn’t always been a part of the Academy Awards, but, since its introduction, it has had the […]

Oscars: Original Screenplay

A screenplay is arguably the most important part of a film. It is the basis for the movie that follows and without it there would be nothing even resembling a film. There is a lot of debate about which category is the more difficult achievement, my opinion is that an original work is a greater […]

Oscars: Sound

I’m going to kill two birds with one stone on this one. Both Sound Editing and Sound Mixing are big technical categories in the Academy Awards. Sound Editing covers the sound effects that are added to a film to create the feel that goes along with the aesthetic of the film. Sound Mixing focuses on […]

Oscars: Costume Design

The importance of costuming has been regarded by the Academy since 1948 and it is of great importance to keep a film as realistic as possible. Any film that wants to compete needs to strive for as much accuracy as they can. This years films are all period films, and while not always the case, […]

Oscars: Production Design

The vision of a film needs to blend perfectly with how the director envisions it and how it actually looks. It is the responsibility of the production team to create and maintain the look and feel of the film. Until recently, this award was called Best Art Direction, but it excluded a lot of the […]

Oscars: Cinematography

The award for cinematography has remained pretty much unchanged since the first Academy Awards, focusing on the camerawork and lighting that sets the mood and tone of every particular scene. Every nominee this year features experience cinematographers and each one used intentional techniques to set a stylistic tone that varied wildly this year. Every film […]