Categories One-by-One: Production Design

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nightwingnova
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Re: Categories One-by-One: Production Design

Post by nightwingnova »

Passengers remind me of Interstellar. I think it could slip in on merit. But I just don't see enough momentum, even with the Art Directors Guild award.

La La's production design is so perfect, so delicately idealized. I love it. But, I question whether the voters will see it as that notable - contemporary design seeming so much easier to implement.

I'm going to take a leap here and go with Fantastic Beasts and its hidden wizard world in '20s NYC and Newt Scamander's natural fantastical zoo inside his luggage case. I get that the Brits are more amenable to its domestic fare...but Fantastic Beasts narrowly seems to me to stand out and impress more.
FilmFan720
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Re: Categories One-by-One: Production Design

Post by FilmFan720 »

What if we are discounting Passengers here too much? While not a box office smash, it did well enough (and very well overseas) to recoup its budget. It won the ADG Award over more "popular" films like Arrival. It picked up two Oscar nominations when many of us didn't see it getting any, meaning that it has a little bit of support (more than Hail, Caesar! and as many as Fantastic Beasts). It is also the flashiest of the five nominees, with lots of big sets and detailed work.
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Re: Categories One-by-One: Production Design

Post by Mister Tee »

I said in my initial review of the film that I thought that last-20-minutes montage clinched the production design (and editing) prize for La La Land -- though I admit the BAFTA coolness to the film in most tech categories makes me wonder if this could be a Kings Speech-ish thing (i.e., perceived as deeply loved because of a huge nomination haul, but relatively limited in actual wins). But okri's right that Fantastic Beasts -- the showiest nominee -- was probably more popular with Brits than with Americans (BAFTA gave one of the Harry Potter movies a visual effects award, as well, right?). And Hail, Caesar!, while great-looking, was too inconsequential a film to dart in and win a prize.
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Re: Categories One-by-One: Production Design

Post by Okri »

Oh, this is an easy get for La La Land. If Hail, Caesar or Passengers were more liked, I could see either of them taking it. I just watched Hail, Caesar! and the production elements are about the only worthy thing in the film. Arrival's design is beautiful, but it's pure minimalism. The Harry Potter series is under-feted by the oscars as a rule and I don't anticipate that changing. La La Land would be a strong contender even if it weren't a dominant best picture winner.
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Categories One-by-One: Production Design

Post by anonymous1980 »

The nominees:

Arrival
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Hail, Caesar!
La La Land
Passengers


This is another interesting race. Logic compels me to predict La La Land but though it's a very stylized musical, it's also contemporary film and a contemporary film hasn't won here since the '70s. (Though the last contemporary film that won this award is, coincidentally also a stylized musical, All That Jazz). I wonder if voters will look elsewhere. There's Fantastic Beasts, which won BAFTA, if they wanna belatedly honor Stuart Craig's designs for the Harry Potter franchise but BAFTA has been more receptive to Harry Potter than AMPAS. I doubt they'd give it to him now. Another option would be Arrival but having just seen it, it's also kind of an unconventional winner. It's essentially also contemporary with only the alien spaceship as the most obvious production design-y element of the piece (and even then the interior is only black room, not very stylized). However, I came across the news article that part of the production designer's work was designing the alien hieroglyphics so perhaps voters who come across that will take that into account. But as of now, I'm predicting La La Land for this.
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