88th Academy Awards - The Technical Categories

There are seven main technical categories at the Oscars - Best Cinematography, Film Editing, Visual Effects, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Production Design and Costume Design. Each one of these categories can add depth and quality to a film, this year two films have done what only three have done before it. Be nominated for all seven. Mad Max: Fury Road and The Revenant follow in the footsteps of Titanic, Master and Commander and Hugo with the seven nominations.

I have already covered Best Cinematography yesterday and you can read my thoughts there. I won't go into every nominee and talk about it in detail but I will give you my predictions and any movies that were left out.

BEST FILM EDITING

Nominees

The Big Short - Hank Corwin

Mad Max: Fury Road - Margaret Sixel

The Revenant - Stephen Mirrione

Spotlight - Tom McArdle

Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey

Each of these nominations are well deserved but some have taken the place of movie that are more deserving. For the ones that are and should be here they might go down in history as one some of the greatest edited movies of the year.

Who Could've Been Nominated

Steve Jobs for it's great pacing of three time periods, Mommy for how it brilliantly shows emotion and tells its own story, 99 Homes for keeping what would be an otherwise boring story interesting, The Hateful Eight for making sure the movie is a cluedo game, Creed for making what would've been a cheesy boxing movie make us feel every punch and not a typical western. Inside Out, The Lobster, Youth, Carol and The Assassin round out some movies that I think deserved a nomination.

I don't think The Revenant, Spotlight and Star Wars should be here. The Revenant is more directed than edited, Spotlight is just shot reverse shot conversations and doesn't help make the movie cinematic but does help highlight the acting and Star Wars didn't do action or story the way Mad Max did.

Will Win

Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller got his wife as she had never done an action movie before because it would be just like every other action ever made. It's not if you were wondering.)

Should Win

Mad Max: Fury Road (It's the best editing action movie of all time and it ties together everything in the movie very, very nicely.)

Should've Been Here

Creed (For a movie that shouldn't work on paper the editing brings a freshness to it.)

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Nominees

Ex Machina

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best visual effects is probably the hardest category to talk about critically and how it aids the movie. The only way I can talk about it is 'who did it best?'

Each five of these movies were a treat to watch as they all have great shots that must've taken hours to do sitting in front of a computer. The odd movie out here is Ex Machina, with a budget of only $15 million when Leonardo DiCaprio was probably paid about that for The Revenant. Mad Max: Fury Road uses mixture of practical and computer effect like no one else has done since The Lord of the Rings. The Martian makes Mars feel close and did some great stuff with it's sets as well.

The Revenant probably got nominated for (spoilers) the bear attack alone and I wish there was a Best Bear as we would all know who would win. Star Wars basically flipped off the prequel trilogy with its use of practical effects.

Who Could've Been Nominated

The Walk for giving people vertigo, Avengers 2 for destroying a city and making one fly too, Jurassic World for dinosaurs.

Will Win

Mad Max: Fury Road (If go onto youtube and look up "why CGI sucks, but it doesn't" there is a video on it and it will tell you that George Miller basically drops the mic on modern day VFX because he does)

Should Win

Mad Max: Fury Road (There are more VFX shots in this movie then you can probably notice unlike the other movies when it's not as subtle.)

Should've Been Here

The Walk (not only should it have been nominated but in serious talks of winning as well)

Sound Editing and Mixing

Nominees

Sound Editing

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant

Sicario

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Sound Mixing

Bridge of Spies

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

I honestly don't know too much about sound editing and mixing but I did see all of these movies except Sicario in a cinema so at least I know what they are meant to sound like. With the exception of Bridge of Spies each one of these movies is an action or blockbuster movie. All of the movies are meant to be seen in cinemas and not only for the visuals but also for the sound which is why they are on the list.

I'm not gonna say who I think could've been nominated as I don't know enough about these categories to get a strong opinion out there.

Will Win

Editing - Mad Max: Fury Road (for it's amazing use of surround sound and it's cars)

Mixing - Mad Max: Fury Road (if the Revenant wins any of the technical categories it will be here in the sound ones but I think Mad Max has the support of that more academy members saw it cinemas then being sent a copy as movies in a cinema are better than a DVD)

Should Win

Editing - Mad Max: Fury Road (my love for Mad Max is probably quite obvious by now but it's not without reason)

Mixing - Mad Max: Fury Road

PRODUCTION DESIGN

Nominees

Bridge of Spies

The Danish Girl

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant

It's weird to have a movie shooting on a set that looks out of place or looking like a set that isn't dressed well. While The Revenant and Mad Max are mainly outside, Mad does have cars which would fall in the production design category. Bridge of Spies and The Danish Girl are period pieces that trully help bring the past to life. Then you have the Martian which is set in the future.

Who Could've Been Nominated

The Lobster for its hotel and city scapes, The Hateful Eight for its character, The Assassin for its traditional setting, The End of the Tour for David Foster Wallace's house, Macbeth for bring shakespeare to life, Crimson Peak for giving us chills and every other period movie (Carol, Far from the Madding Crowd, In the Heart of the Sea, Cinderella, Diary of a Teenage Girl, Brooklyn, The Walk)

Will Win

Mad Max: Fury Road (because it's the stand out in terms of creativity and originality)

Should Win

Mad Max: Fury Road (instead of having great looking cars like Fast and Furious; Mad Max's cars have so much character in them. You can even tell from what tribe a car is from.)

Should've Been Here

The Hateful Eight (even with one set it managed to always remain an interesting one to look at)

COSTUME DESIGN

Nominees

Carol – Sandy Powell

Cinderella – Sandy Powell

The Danish Girl – Paco Delgado

Mad Max: Fury Road – Jenny Beavan

The Revenant – Jacqueline West

With only one male nominee this is the only category (apart from supporting/actress) that is dominated by females (and Paco Delgado isn't even white). This year's nominees bring much character to their respective movies. Sandy Powell received two nominations this year (and already has three Oscars) has shown her skill in two great films. I think Carol is her better movie as the costumes at times in Cinderella are slight over the top. The Danish Girl's Paco Delgado got a nomination for having period costumes and bringing costumes from paintings alive.

Mad Max's Jenny Beavan managed to design costumes for all sorts of characters - soldiers/war boys, Immortan Joe and his followers two other war parties, Furiosa and of course Max. Each one feels like its own character and the costumes give history. If you look at Max's jacket you can see it has been stitched together from other jackets. Jacqueline West managed to keep everybody's favorite actor Leonardo DiCaprio warm so she got a nomination.

Who Could've Been Nominated

Crimson Peak for it's not too over the top costumes, Star Wars for managing to make costumes feel like they come from the other Star Wars movies but remain original, The Assassin for the costumes becoming one with the character and images and ever period piece movie.

Will Win

Mad Max: Fury Road (for its vast range in costumes)

Should Win

Carol (for not calling to itself but also remain integral to the movie)

Who Should've Been Here

The Assassin (but no one from the Academy saw it)

What are your thoughts and predictions for the Academy Awards on Monday (AEDST)?

Tomorrow I will start with the acting categories.

#2015 #oscars