Enchanted and Blood Ineligible for Score - what the fuck?

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Post by rolotomasi99 »

Sonic Youth wrote:e) scores diminished in impact by the predominant use of songs

f) scores assembled from the music of more than one composer.
so the score of THE COLOR PURPLE, which had 12 people nominated for composing its music which were largely songs, would never be nominated now-a-days.
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Post by Akash »

The Original BJ wrote:The situation with Enchanted is less depressing (it's not one of the great film scores this year), but much more appalling, as far as I'm concerned. If the film had predominately used songs that were non-original, I could understand the ruling (as I did with, say, Moulin Rouge.) But an original musical relies on BOTH underscoring and songs, and because Alan Menken composed both, I see no reason why Enchanted should be disqualified. Just because Menken's music is set to lyrics doesn't make it any less an accomplishment than another composer's music that isn't. The logic behind this ruling is not only stupid, but sets a bizarre, confusing precedent for future film musicals.


Exactly. Menken certainly doesn't need another Oscar and Enchanted may not contain the best film score this year, but the reasoning behind this exclusion is dumber (and more important) than the film it just so happens to exclude.




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Post by The Original BJ »

Sonic Youth wrote:f) scores assembled from the music of more than one composer.
Oh god. So would this (beyond stupid) rule also rule out Assassination of Jesse James? Jesus Christ, these people are killing me...
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Post by rolotomasi99 »

well, the only bright side to this is that the two films tied for my second favorite scores, ATONEMENT and RATATOUILLE, now have a chance. the award deserves to go to THERE WILL BE BLOOD, but the composers are assholes (it bears repeating).
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Post by The Original BJ »

The situation with There Will Be Blood is more depressing -- it's one of the great pieces of film music this year. (Plus, after last year's Babel win, the ruling seems particularly questionable, as the majority of music for THAT film wasn't written specifically for the picture.) All of that being said, if the There Will Be Blood score contains significant material that wasn't written for the film, I can see the argument.

The situation with Enchanted is less depressing (it's not one of the great film scores this year), but much more appalling, as far as I'm concerned. If the film had predominately used songs that were non-original, I could understand the ruling (as I did with, say, Moulin Rouge.) But an original musical relies on BOTH underscoring and songs, and because Alan Menken composed both, I see no reason why Enchanted should be disqualified. Just because Menken's music is set to lyrics doesn't make it any less an accomplishment than another composer's music that isn't. The logic behind this ruling is not only stupid, but sets a bizarre, confusing precedent for future film musicals.
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Post by Sonic Youth »

OscarGuy wrote:That's the thing, they have a category for Song Score...they have plenty of eligible films, I find it suspicious that they would declare Enchanted ineligible, but make no mention of Once or Into the Wild, which both used songs...
Into the Wild has also been declared ineligible. And did Once even have a score?

Anyway, here's the rule:

5. Only the principal composer(s) or songwriter(s) responsible for the conception and execution of the work as a whole shall be eligible for an award. This expressly excludes from eligibility all of the following:

a) supervisors

b) partial contributors (e.g., any writer not responsible for the overall design of the work)

c) contributors working on speculation

d) scores diluted by the use of tracked themes or other pre-existing music

e) scores diminished in impact by the predominant use of songs

f) scores assembled from the music of more than one composer.
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Post by OscarGuy »

There's an article over at Variety.com that confirms the issue and goes into more detail on the matter. Into the Wild was also declared ineligible.
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Post by OscarGuy »

I don't know that it has, Penelope. But leave it to the music branch to figure out some way to disqualify original works. See, I don't doubt they ruled it ineligible. They had to have done so back in late December before ballots went out for it not to appear. The problem is, they should have also then permitted an appeal to be submitted, so Greenwood and the production company would have known prior...and I figure if they did, releasing the information before now would have done well to get the film some extra attention from other groups within the Academy and might have boosted its nomination chances in less certain categories.
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Post by Penelope »

Could somebody clarify the Greenwood situation; where has the music appeared previously?
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Post by cam »

Well there goes my choice for best score--Greenwood. I am wondering how they can tell that it was used before? A work was played by Greenwood for a concert in New York this week, *based on the music from the film*. Was the music for the film based on *this music*? Very confusing.

Every year the APMAS blocks something or other because of , I think, jealousy, and to keep their choices "pure". What about the Theme From Shaft, it was NOT a song--yet it won Best Song? And words for Never On Sunday and The High and Mighty were quickly written specially so they could be considered as "songs". Bullshit.
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Post by rolotomasi99 »

Akash wrote:I'm not sure how reliable this information is though. Hammond lists "reliable sources" but has there been any official statement? And wouldn't such a statement have come out much earlier than the day before the Oscars?
they probably knew the shit was going to hit the fan, particularly after the foreign film controversy. they probably hoped doing it the day before the oscars were going to be announced would make the news get buried. fucking cowards! :angry:
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Post by OscarGuy »

That's the thing, they have a category for Song Score...they have plenty of eligible films, I find it suspicious that they would declare Enchanted ineligible, but make no mention of Once or Into the Wild, which both used songs...I think it's the biggest injustice since The Truman Show was declared ineligible. The decision then was that it was too difficult to tell the difference between the music composed for the film and music composed previously.

If this is true, the Original Score category is headed the way of the Makeup, Visual Effects and Foreign Film categories: utterly useless and in serious need of a revamp.

If this is true, I think it stinks more of cronyism than anything. They don't want the young, non-classical composers in there. They only want the more traditional.
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Post by Akash »

It is too bad, but at least with Greenwood that rule was always there. The reasoning for Menken on the other hand, seems really stupid to me.

I'm not sure how reliable this information is though. Hammond lists "reliable sources" but has there been any official statement? And wouldn't such a statement have come out much earlier than the day before the Oscars?




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Post by rolotomasi99 »

Akash wrote:Jonny Greenwood's critically acclaimed work for "There Will Be Blood," which many pundits thought would be a shoo-in for an Oscar nod, has been ruled ineligible, sources have told The Envelope, because "the majority of the music was not composed specifically for the film."
biggest snub since THE PIANO's score was deemed "ineligible." those motherfucking composers are such assholes.
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Post by Penelope »

Wow...that's...unbelievable. Not feeling too bad for Mencken, but what a blow to Greenwood--a real shame, since his score is one of the best of the year, and brilliantly utilized in the film.
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