|
|
|
[[ Home ]] [[ History ]] [[ The Production ]] [[Special Effects]] [[The Oscars]] [[Interactive Corner]] [[The Interview]] |
|
[[The Formation of the academy]] [[The Awards Committee]] [[The Oscar Statuette]] [[The First Academy]] [[2001 Oscars]]
The Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars, have played a very important role in film history for over 70 years. In the beginning, it was started in the United States, in Los Angeles. But over the years, its influence extended overseas to different continents. Once a small elite club made up of less than 40 members, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is now one of the most important organizations in the filming industry; and its annual Oscars ceremony, the high light of every year, has also become one of the most significant world events nowadays.
The Formation of the “Academy"
It all started in Hollywood, with a very important man called Louis B.
Mayer, the president of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 1926. During a
dinner meeting, Mayer and three studio acolytes: Conrad Nagel, Fred
Beetson and Fred Niblo, thought of an idea to improve the artistic
standards of films and promote the filming industry. They planned to set
up an elite club with members who have made achievements and special
contributions to the industry, such as actors, directors and producers.
TheAcademy
of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was established in 1972, in the
beginning, there were only about 33 members, and actor Sr. Douglas
Fairbanks was the first president of the organization. On the 4th
of May 1927, the Academy became a legal corporation, it organized a
dinner party at the Biltmore Hotel, 231 guests joined the Academy that
night. By then, the concept of awards was still not brought to light.
It all started in Hollywood, with a very important man called Louis B.
Mayer, the president of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 1926. During a
dinner meeting, Mayer and three studio acolytes: Conrad Nagel, Fred
Beetson and Fred Niblo, thought of an idea to improve the artistic
standards of films and promote the filming industry. They planned to set
up an elite club with members who have made achievements and special
contributions to the industry, such as actors, directors and producers.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was established in 1972, in the beginning, there were only about 33 members, and actor Sr. Douglas Fairbanks was the first president of the organization. On the 4th of May 1927, the Academy became a legal corporation, it organized a dinner party at the Biltmore Hotel, 231 guests joined the Academy that night. By then, the concept of awards was still not brought to light.
The Awards Committee
Later, the idea of presenting “awards of merit for distinctive
achievements” occurred to Fairbanks, a Committee for the Awards of
Merit comprising of 7 people was then formed. In July of 1928, the Committee created a voting system for choosing the award winners every year. The members of the Academy were from five different branches- actors, directors, writers, producers and technicians. According to the voting system, each member from each branch would cast one nominating vote in his or her branch, then the votes would be counted and the nominations would be determined. The results would then be handed to a Central Board of Judges, comprising of one representative form each branch. Together, the five representatives would decide who the winners of the Academy Awards would be. In that year, films released in Los Angeles between 1st of August 1927 and 31st of July 1928 were eligible for nomination for the Academy Awards of Merit
The Oscar StatuetteThe duty of designing the trophies of the Academy Awards went to Cedric Gibbons, the chief art director in of MGM. Gibbons’ design was a naked man, who was supposed to be a knight, with his sword pointing downwards, standing on a reel of film with 5 holes, representing the 5 branches of the Academy. Artist George Stanley sculpted Gibbons design in clay, then Alex Smith of the California Bronze Foundry cast the statuette in tin and copper and plated it with 24-karat gold. The first Academy Award Statuette was born, it was 13 ½ inches tall and 8 ½ pounds in weight. The statuette was formally called the Academy Award of Merit, later, it adopted a nickname—Oscar. And the Academy has used this nickname officially since 1939. The reason why the Academy Award of Merit was called Oscar was still unclear, many people believed that Margaret Herrick, passing executive director of the Academy, once said that the award statuette resembled her Uncle Oscar, therefore, Academy staffs started using this nickname The First Academy
Awards
The world’s first Academy Awards ceremony took place on the 16th
of May 1929, in the Blossom Room of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, it
was held in the form of a private banquet, opened only to Academy
members and award winners. 250 guests attended the banquet, and each of
them paid $10 for the ticket.
On that night, 15 Academy Awards of Merit were handed out to winners of
13 categories. The categories back then were much different from the
ones we have nowadays, there were also much less categories compared to
the 23 categories now. In 1929, the Best Picture Award was split into
two categories, the Production Award and the Artistic Quality of
Production Award. There were only 2 Awards for acting, Best Actor and
Best Actress, the supporting actors and actresses were neglected. The
awards for directing were the Director Award and the Comedy Direction
Award. The award for Screen Writing was split into 3: Adaptation,
Original Story and Title Writing. There were also awards for
Cinematography, Engineering Effects and Interior Decoration, in which 2
films captured together. 2 Special Awards given, one to Charles Chaplin
for writing, directing, acting and producing The Circus, and another to
Warner Brothers for producing The Jazz Singer. (The Special award was
given to The Jazz Singer because it was a talking film, the Academy
decided that it would be unfair for silent pictures to compete with it.
So The Jazz Singer was not qualified for the two production awards,
however, the Academy decided to give it a Special Award.) Nominees who
didn’t capture the Academy Awards were given honourable mention and
were awarded with scrolls. The ceremony didn’t last long, Douglas Fairbanks presented all the awards in only 5 minute. In fact, the ceremony wasn’t exciting to anybody at all, it lacked the glamour and the secrecy that Oscar ceremonies have nowadays, since the list of award winners were given out 3 months prior the ceremony, it was printed on the Academy Bulletin on 18th of February. That night, the award winners already knew that they have won, all they had to do was to walk up the stage and take that golden trophy, and none of them gave speeches except Darryl F. Zanuck of Warner Brothers who received the Special Award. The first Academy Awards wasn’t considered as such a big event, it came and went without much discussion. But who, at that time, would know that this dinner party kind of thing called the Academy Awards would take up 73 years and beyond of history?
2001
- 73rd Oscars (thanks to http://www.oscars.com)
BEST PICTURE : GLADIATOR Douglas
Wick David
Franzoni
Branko
Lustig ACTOR
– LEADING : RUSSELL CROWE Gladiator ACTOR
– SUPPORTING:
BENICO DEL
TORO* Traffic ACTRESS
– LEADING
: JULIA ROBERTS Erin
Brokovich ACTRESS
-- SUPPORTING :
MARCIA
GAY HARDEN* Pollock ART
DIRECTION
: CROUCHING TIGER,
HIDDEN DRAGON Tim
Yip CINEMATOGRAPHY
: CROUCHING TIGER,
HIDDEN DRAGON Peter
Pau* COSTUME
DESIGN
: GLADIATOR Janty
Yates* DIRECTING
: TRAFFIC Steven
Soderbergh DOCUMENTARY
SHORT
: BIG MAMA Tracy
Seretean DOCUMENTARY
FEATURE
: INTO THE ARMS OF
STRANGERS: STORIES OF THE KINDERTRANSPORT Mark
Jonathan Harris* Deborah
Oppenheimer* FILM
EDITING
: TRAFFIC Stephen
Mirrione* FOREIGN
LANGUAGE FILM
: CROUCHING TIGER,
HIDDEN DRAGON Ang
Lee* MAKEUP
: DR. SEUSS' HOW THE
GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS Rick
Baker* Gail
Ryan* MUSIC
(SCORE)
: CROUCHING
TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON Tan
Dun MUSIC
(SONG)
: WONDER BOYS "Things
Have Changed"
- Bob Dylan SHORT
-- LIVE ACTION : QUIERO SER (I
WANT TO BE...) Florian
Gallenberger SHORT
– ANIMATED
: FATHER AND DAUGHTER Michael
Dudok de Wit* SOUND
: GLADIATOR Scott
Millan* Bob
Beemer* Ken
Weston* SOUND
EDITING
: U-571 Jon
Johnson* VISUAL
EFFECTS
: GLADIATOR John
Nelson* Neil
Corbould* Tim
Burke* Rob
Harvey*
WRITING
(ADAPTED)
: TRAFFIC Stephen
Gaghan WRITING
(ORIGINAL)
- ALMOST FAMOUS
|
