AOTC: Oscar nominations

The people for each project are selected beforehand. It depends. For example in Skywalker Sound, where teams are smaller is not unusual for say, Gary Rydstrom to be nominated in the 2 sound categories or say even in the same category for the different films film. He competed against himself in 1991 in both categories for Backdraft and T2

Not a bad series of films to compete with yourself in, eh?

Man, I'd love to have his job!

Still working on it though, albeit in the NYC area...

 

The academy has done some things in the past 8 years that I dont agree with, including:

1. James Horner not winning best original score for Braveheart. (I think he lost b/c he was competing with himself - Apollo 13)

2. Skakespeare in Love winning Best Picture over Saving Private Ryan

3. Matrix winning best visual effects over TPM.

4. The Fellowship of the Ring being nominated for Best Picture, and not Monster's Ball.

Let me tell you this. If AOTC doesnt win best visual effects, I will be extremely ticked. I'm sorry, but the visuals in TTT, while they are terrific, do not measure up to AOTC. It is safe to say that AOTC is definately a lot more ambitious in its visual effects.

Also, it should have been nominated for best score, best costume, and best sound. That is a sham all by itself right there.

By the way I liked the TFOTR,and I think Peter Jackson is a great director and screen writer, but I thought the film was very overated. I swear I almost walked out of the theater an hour into the movie, but luckily it started to get good. I couldnt beleive it when Christopher Lee said that LOTR was underrepresented at the Oscars last year and was disrespected. What??? With all do respect Mr. Lee, it was nominated for a BEST PICTURE. What more do you want?

I was mildly disappointed by TTT. It was good, but I definately wont be seeing it again. Trying to make the audience think their hero is dead and then- SURPRISE!!! HE'S ALIVE!!!!- That gets very old. It happened with Gandolf and it happened again with Arogon. What is the point of that?
Another thing that disappointed me about it was that our heroes are in just as good of shape at the end of the movie as they were at the beginning!! I dont know, maybe I was just spoiled by the SW trilogy, but I am used to the 2nd act leaving the heroes in deep **** at the end of the act, and waiting for the 3rd act to get them out. Everyone was raving about how it was TESB of the LOTR and how dark it was. Well, I dont see it as dark b/c it has a semi-happy ending!!!

# of times I saw AOTC in the theater - 10,
# of times I saw TTT- 1

 

I'd love AOTC to win the Visual Effects Oscar too, but I think TTT will be the more popular movie with the committee.

Don't get your hopes up, guys. It'd be a surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one if it wins.

The character of Gollum is a focal point for TTT's special effects, to the point where it over-rides the other effects in the film and becomes the thing that could win the award on its own. It doesn't matter if Treebeard looks like he was inimated like the Tauntauns from ESB, they'll be looking at Gollum. It doesn't matter if the skillful use of darkness was used to help 'cover the joins' for the attacking army in the Helms Deep battle, they'll be looking at Gollum.

Gollum is a fantastic effect, so regardless of the larger amount and more daring use of effects in AOTC, Gollum could win it.

Gollum was daring in terms of a single character, AOTC showed more flair across the board with the things it attempted and succeeded in doing. All IMO.

 

The best animated creatures on screen are the......


Kaminoans! By faaaar!



They looked completely real. It is like that you can touch them. I didn't get this impression with Golum who looked "inserted" in his scenes.

 

Gollum is a fantastic effect, so regardless of the larger amount and more daring use of effects in AOTC, Gollum could win it.

More daring? How so, in that just about every shot has some sort of CG element in it?

I'd concede that the technical aspects of AOTC's visual FX are superior to TTT. However, the integration of the FX, as a storytelling element, are not as good. AOTC is ABOUT the visual FX. The TTT used FX to a better storytelling advantage, IMHO. This is part of the criteria for judging the award - how well do the FX serve the story?

 

6)AOTC has some of the poorest editting I've ever seen in a feature film

Where exactly?

The cut from Yoda´s line
"If informed the senate is, multiply our adversaries will."
to Anakin´s nightmare may be one of the most cruel/worst cuts EVER.

In one draft of the screenplay there was some build-up to this scene:

EXT. NABOO LAKE RETREAT - NIGHT
The silent lodge. The triple moons of Naboo reflected in the tranquil waters of the lake.

INT. NABOO LAKE RETREAT, ANAKIN'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
ANAKIN moves restlessly in his sleep. He mutters to himself. Sweat
forms on his forehead. He turns violently. He cries out.

ANAKIN
No...No...No...Mom!...Don't,
no, don't!


Would have worked better IMHO.

There are more dubious cuts.
During the fight between Jango&Obi-Wan and the lightsaber battles for instance,
but there are already many other threads existing discussing these issues ...

 

Alas, poor Minority Report! Your Visual FX nomination was snubbed for the anti-septic, lifeless cartoon vistas of Heaven's Clones!

However, hurray for the Godfather trilogy and Lord of the Rings! The only two film sagas in which even the sequels were nominated for best picture!

Anyone think the Oscars should be renamed the "Harvey" awards?

see here for the reference, if you fail to get it:

http://www.thefilmexperience.net/Weekly/2003/0211harveysoscar.html

 

I am very happy with AOTC's nomination for Best Visual Effects. It deserves to win... truly deserves to win.
But T2T will probably win.
Spider-Man does not deserve a nomination. The frickin' TRAILER for Minority Report had better effects than anything in Spider-Man.

I was a little irritated with the Best Cinematography nominations. LOTR deserved a nod, as did AOTC. (But who would they nominate? "David Tattersall and the ILM guys"? Would all of ILM show up in tuxedos and get statues?)
Anyway, I think AOTC is the best-looking movie ever. So nyaaaah.

I don't think AOTC deserved best editing or best sound effects editing or best sound. (Some of the editing in AOTC outright pissed me off.) So I'm glad it didn't get a nod.

I also was glad Peter Jackson didn't get a nod for T2T. He did not deserve it this time out.

I do think, though, that T2T deserved a nomination for costume design.

Nothing I liked got nominated for Best Score because of a new rule (which I support) that says that scores drawing extensively on themes and motifs from previous movies can't be nominated.

The only award I really care about is Visual Effects this time around... go AOTC go!




Rick McCallum loves you!

 

Good point about the Cinematography Award. AOTC certainly deserved to be recognized for the move forward in digital cinema (AOTC looks gorgeous).

But I didn't expect it to happen. Hollywod would never reward Lucas for what they view as his crusade against celluloid.

-Otis

 

I think either "The Two Towers" or "Attack of the Clones" winning best SFX would suffice. "Spider-Man", now that's a different story . Seriously, could Spidey flinging over the buildings look any more fake? Ah, and that cartoony caricature of the Green Goblin stuck out like a sore thumb throughout the film. Not bad effects by any stretch, but "Minority Report" most definitely got snubbed in that category.

 

Umm...

If AOTC deserves a cinematography award, then Monsters Inc. deserves one, too. Any award for the digital cameras would come in the form of a seperate tech award and not a real Oscar, like all the other advances in filming tech get.

 

Good point about the Cinematography Award. AOTC certainly deserved to be recognized for the move forward in digital cinema (AOTC looks gorgeous).

Agreed - it was beautifully shot.

But I didn't expect it to happen. Hollywod would never reward Lucas for what they view as his crusade against celluloid.

Don't know if this is really the case. If this were a Hollywood darling, like M. Night Shayamalan or Peter Jackson, or shot by a cinematographer whose name = instant credibility (ie Conrad Hall, Haskell Wexler or Jordan Cronenweth), you might see a nomination.

I personally think the bean counters at all of the studios feel that Lucas is doing them a favor by moving forward with a cheaper technology...

 

AOTC didn't deserve much more than it got. The CGI wasn't polished very well, the acting was flat in most scenes, and the editing was outrageous.

Too bad AOTC's soundtrack wasn't recognized. But then again, TPM's wasn't either.

So will AOTC win for visual effects? Doubftful. Gollums hype will make sure of that.


When Matrix beat out TPM for best visual effects, God shed a tear. The reason why Matrix won was because of the bullet effect that people were hyping. Plus it was popular to hate Star Wars now. That's why TTT will beat AOTC.

They nominated The Two Towers for best picture so as to not look hypocritical. TFOTR was nominated and since both movies were made the same and have the same plot, it wouldn't be right now to nominate the second.

Chicago will sweep the Oscars. Never seen it but Hollywood loves musicals.

 

"to Anakin´s nightmare may be one of the most cruel/worst cuts EVER."

You obviously havn't seen alot of movies.

"AOTC is ABOUT the visual FX."

How did you come to that conclusion?Let me guess you have tea with GL every week and he just blurted that out.

"If AOTC deserves a cinematography award, then Monsters Inc. deserves one, too."

Hey for once I agree with you.I hope this doesn't become a common occurrence

 

What a joke. This is the same corrupt "academy" that failed to give Saving Private Ryan best picture and didn't even nominate Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. In 1977, the year Star Wars came out, they gave best picture to Annie Hall. Pathetic.

 

Relax, TTT will probably take 2 or 3 out of the 6 this year, but not Best Picutre. Not because I don't think it should win, but because one film winning 3 years in a row doesn't please the Academy.

ROTK, on the other hand, might get 14 nominations and sweep. This would be the final "nod" of appreciation to Jackson and for TLOTR as a single film. Since ROTK is rumored to be the greatest and best of the films anyway, at least 10 nominations wouldn't shock me. However, that won't be till next year.

Star Wars deserved more nominations, granted, but we have no say in this. Just because we think a film is great, doesn't mean everyone else does. That should be the golden rule around here.

 

You guys don't know anything about cinematography. It has nothing to do with digital quality or how "sharp" it looks. It's about how creatively shots are composed. The mastery of light, shadow, and physical elements. AOTC is all made in the computer, where's the challenge in that?

 

I wouldn't say *all* of Attack of the Clones was made with a computer (and even if it was, that shouldn't diminish its artistic achievements in any way; the computer isn't creating the images you see on screen, it's the people programming it). Many models were used during the production. ILM and Lucas did such a wonderful job that, at times, you can barely differentiate the CGI with the models.

 

"AOTC is all made in the computer"

Oh JW you are so right.There weren't any real sets or even real actors.It was all just a very sophisticated video game.

 

We know TTT or Spidey is going to win. Oh well.

 

As the Emperor would say, Ret, a win for TTT or Spidey "is inevitable".

 

Jeese, look what I started again. And its funny because I never specifically said one was better than the other as a MOVIE (not in terms of effects). I said neither was better than the other. Although I have to admit, I was setting up the LOTR fans to lash back...teehee!...

*Prances around a giant bonfire on the beach, like Tom Hanks in Castaway* "Loook what I have created! I have made fire!"

ST-TPM-ASF-TNE: I agree with a lot that you have said so far in support of AOTC. Especially about the video game thing.

OTIS: Loved your 2-hours too long stab.

I think the only argument against AOTC that I agree with is SOME of the editing. For example, what some consider bad editing in the cut from Qui Gon's call beyond the grave after the tusken slaughter, "Anakin - NOOOO" to Obiwan on Geonosis fussing about what Ani's up to -- I actually consider good story telling, and EFFECTIVE editing. Which I wont get into. However, I do agree there are some bad cuts such as the nightmare scene as previously stated.

But other than certain odd-ball editing parts, which if I watched/endured (jk, I liked it) the TTT again I'd probably see some editing that bothers me as well, I still don't see anything to put AOTC below TTT.

*grabs a marshmellow, shoves it onto a stick.....pulls up a camping chair....and roasts some mellows.*

smore, anyone?

 

For those that think AOTC was created only with a computer, I'd suggest watching the documetaries for evidence to the contrary. You can rent the film if you *snicker* don't already own it.

 

"Although I have to admit, I was setting up the LOTR fans to lash back...teehee!..."

Posting with the intent to cause problems is considered trolling, and doesn't make moderating any easier. See you in 24.

 

You guys don't know anything about cinematography. It has nothing to do with digital quality or how "sharp" it looks. It's about how creatively shots are composed. The mastery of light, shadow, and physical elements. AOTC is all made in the computer, where's the challenge in that?

First off, it's not all made in "the" computer. It's made over hundreds of computers by hundreds of people.

But seriously, this is just another example of people not knowing how hard it is to do CG. I'm not flaming or blasting you, JW00, but I must say that you obviously just don't know the difficulty of doing what effects companies like ILM do. It's extremely hard to do that stuff, and that's why I love seeing how far they can take CG. It IS a challenge, and a very tough challenge at that. I just wish people would respect visual effects more. But, "the visual effects have taken away from the acting, the story, and the overall quality of the film!" No. They have not. All the "effects shots" you see in Clones HAVE to be done somehow. Lucas didn't write the script based on effects, whether you want to believe that or not, and whether CG existed or not, doesn't matter. Everything you see that is CG was going to be either CG, a model, an animatronic, a matte painting, or something. I guess if there were no CG in Episode II, the gripes would become "well it's all just done with models and animatronics." Yep, just like the OT.