New Oscar Rules

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Re: New Oscar Rules

Post by mlrg »

Big Magilla wrote:
mlrg wrote:The Last Emperor had 3 composers that took home the oscar for original score: Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Byrne and Cong Su
You mean I only missed one out of all that? :?
Top of my head, yes. :D
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Re: New Oscar Rules

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mlrg wrote:The Last Emperor had 3 composers that took home the oscar for original score: Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Byrne and Cong Su
You mean I only missed one out of all that? :?
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Re: New Oscar Rules

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FilmFan720 wrote:I think this is slightly in response to The Revenant two years ago, which saw its score found ineligible because it had three different composers which violated the rules.
I kind of remembered it being ruled ineligible, but couldn't recall the reason, in which case I suppose the rule change would be either a compromise or a fix to an existing problem.
FilmFan720 wrote:I also wonder if this is a reaction to controversies they saw coming down the road. It seems like more and more filmmakers, particularly independent filmmakers, are turning to rock bands and other groups to create their scores, which will make the number of names on a list lengthier.
This sounds a bit petty. If there is an existing rule that three or more composers are ineligible, then all they would have to do is leave the rule in place to keep those pesky rock bands at bay.
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Re: New Oscar Rules

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Big Magilla wrote:I haven't been following this too closely, but why exactly is this an issue? The best score award is for dramatic underscoring, not the song score. It is generally composed by one person, occasionally two.

I did a cursory review of all the nominees and winners for score in the history of the Academy Awards and found only one instance of more than two people credited for best original score - The Color Purple which listed twelve nominees. Had it won under these rules, I'm sure everyone would have agreed that principal composer Quincy Jones would be the one to take home the Oscar.

The Unsinkable Molly Brown had six nominees, but that was for best adapted score, a category that no longer exists. The Beatles' A Hard Day's Night was also nominated, but the nomination went to George Martin, not one of the Beatles. Both lost to André Previn who won his fourth Oscar for his adaptation of My Fair Lady.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_A ... inal_Score
The Last Emperor had 3 composers that took home the oscar for original score: Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Byrne and Cong Su
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Re: New Oscar Rules

Post by FilmFan720 »

I think this is slightly in response to The Revenant two years ago, which saw its score found ineligible because it had three different composers which violated the rules.

I also wonder if this is a reaction to controversies they saw coming down the road. It seems like more and more filmmakers, particularly independent filmmakers, are turning to rock bands and other groups to create their scores, which will make the number of names on a list lengthier.
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Re: New Oscar Rules

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I haven't been following this too closely, but why exactly is this an issue? The best score award is for dramatic underscoring, not the song score. It is generally composed by one person, occasionally two.

I did a cursory review of all the nominees and winners for score in the history of the Academy Awards and found only one instance of more than two people credited for best original score - The Color Purple which listed twelve nominees. Had it won under these rules, I'm sure everyone would have agreed that principal composer Quincy Jones would be the one to take home the Oscar.

The Unsinkable Molly Brown had six nominees, but that was for best adapted score, a category that no longer exists. The Beatles' A Hard Day's Night was also nominated, but the nomination went to George Martin, not one of the Beatles. Both lost to André Previn who won his fourth Oscar for his adaptation of My Fair Lady.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_A ... inal_Score
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Re: New Oscar Rules

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They do. That's the problem. All categories give one Oscar to each nominated producer, makeup designer, etc, but if you choose to submit a three-plus person team as a group for Original Score, they'll receive one Oscar. So, if The Beatles were still alive and were nominated now and won, instead of getting four Oscars, one for each member of the group, they would get one Oscar to fight over.
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Re: New Oscar Rules

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I didn't know that. I just assumed each producer of the Best Picture received his/her own Oscar.
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Re: New Oscar Rules

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As in the Academy gives the winning film ONE Oscar. It's up to the members of the group of composers to decide who gets to keep it.
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Re: New Oscar Rules

Post by Greg »

Just how is it possible for more than one person to share a single statuette
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Re: New Oscar Rules

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OscarGuy wrote:The difference, BJ, is that the three Original Score nominees share a single credit and win a single Oscar statuette to share between them. In all other categories with more than three recipients being eligible, the individuals each get a statuette. That's why the score change seems idiotic.
I guess I didn't read too closely, because yes, that's idiotic.
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Re: New Oscar Rules

Post by Heksagon »

The "O.J. Rule" is reasonable, but unfortunately it's the only change that I like.

The Animation change is regrettable, and I'm saying that as someone who was disappointed to see The Lego Movie miss out. Presumably the Hollywood studios were not too happy to see their big budget efforts lose out to cheaper European and Japanese films. It's hugely unfair to the Animators Branch, who are punished for voting for the wrong films.

The Score change that requires a team to share a single statuette is the dumbest thing the Academy has come up with since deciding to hand out the Short Film Awards in the audience rather than the podium. I don't expect this rule to last very long. Allowing more nominees for a single film would be fine by itself.
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Re: New Oscar Rules

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The difference, BJ, is that the three Original Score nominees share a single credit and win a single Oscar statuette to share between them. In all other categories with more than three recipients being eligible, the individuals each get a statuette. That's why the score change seems idiotic.
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Re: New Oscar Rules

Post by The Original BJ »

They almost had to do something about the O.J. situation, though reading that article, it still seems like the actual rule change is a bit vague. Though perhaps this is for the best, allowing for wiggle room for the spirit of the law to take precedence in certain cases. (You do wonder if Netflix would have decided to make Five Came Back a three hour movie rather than a three-part series had they known this change were coming.)

The score change is 100% appropriate -- three people can share plenty of the other Oscar categories, why not Original Score?

The Animated Feature category has had a pleasing international spirit in recent years, and it's hard to see the membership as a whole plucking out the artier foreign titles over the big hits going forward. I rate that change a disappointment, especially because it's not like there has been a big history of blackballing favorites like The LEGO Movie -- it's possible that was just a fluky one-off -- and it seems like a strange adjustment based on the omission of one movie. (Then again, why do we have 5+ Best Picture nominees?)
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Re: New Oscar Rules

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The fact that they eliminated scoring of films for animation and went to popularity gives films that have wider viewership more options. The question is, and I haven't read the rules, whether or not the members of this committee (of non-animation professionals, why?) are required to watch all the films or not. Honestly, though, this seems like too far afield of the Lego Movie brouhaha and more in response to box office hits like Finding Dory, Sing, The Secret Life of Pets, Kung Fu Panda 3 not having gotten nominated over an increased number of GKids and Studio Ghibli titles...it might also hurt studios like Laika and Aardman who don't have the box office clout to push for wholesale changes like this.
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