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A Year of Dazzling Costume Design
It has been a dazzling, ambitious year for costume design. This year’s crop of films have brought to realization the scope of worlds through costume as unique and enthralling as they are varied and distinctive. »
The Year in Visual Effects
Ah, those digits. On computers tracking finances and trading commodity futures, they weaken the Euro, send gas prices higher, and create all manner of mischief. But in computers creating century-old Parisian landscapes, World Wars, and highly sympathetic revolutionary apes, among other imaginings, they create the very stuff of box office receipts and critical plaudits.... »
Recognizing Exceptional Editing
Just as every summer theaters are filled with super-hero blockbusters and other tent-pole movies, as each year comes to a close, audiences are deluged by the release of motion pictures considered by the various studios to be award-worthy. Although some critically acclaimed works come early in the year, fear of short audience memories means... »
A Banner Year for Special Makeup Effects
Every autumn in the entertainment industry, the many below-the-line crafts in a year’s films are often under appreciated by a celebrity-oriented press corps, both foreign and domestic, who often seek nothing but a parade of stars come the lengthy awards season. Yet, the various crafts in a film, with the artists behind those... »
Teamwork is an Edge for Art Directors This Awards Season
The shorthand between a production designer and director who have previously worked together is an advantage in filmmaking that will likely come into play this awards season, three leading designers agreed. Rick Carter and Steven Spielberg, Dante Ferreti and Martin Scorcese, David Yates and Stuart Craig, Clint Eastwood and James Murakami, and Terrence Mallick... »
Animation Roundup
The best animated feature Oscar isn’t exactly a below-the-line award. In a sense, it’s more akin to a “best picture” Oscar, (which just happens to be animated). For animated film contenders it all comes down to how all of the crafts work together. Story, animation, direction, editing, production design and sound have to coalesce... »
Costume Design: Visually Supporting the Story and Characters
“The actors are in the foreground, so the costumes are in the foreground,” comments costume designer, Jeffrey Kurland, Oscar-nominated for Bullets Over Broadway. Yet whereas a period or fantasy costume might pop off the screen due to the nature of the clothing and the spectacle of the films, the average viewer may not even... »
Director Tom Hooper Talks About The King’s Speech
“I wanted a different way of looking at the monarchy,” says director Tom Hooper, about The King’s Speech – the acclaimed tale of King George VI's visit to unorthodox speech therapist Lionel Logue (essayed, in equally lauded fashion, by Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush, respectively), who helped him overcome a crippling stutter. »
With Screen Characters, The Makeup is the Thing
When Charlize Theron won her coveted Best Actress Oscar for her performance in 2003’s Monster, among her many thanks was one to “Toni G for transforming me.” The moment was as revealing as it was shocking; rarely had a winning performer thanked the makeup artist for a manner of transformation into a unique onscreen... »
Cinematography: A Brave New Blend of Film and Digital
ASC member and DP Tom Sigel, who had a slew of releases this year with Frankie and Alice, The Conspirator and Leap Year, considers the way cinematography accolades for 2010 will be assessed in light of what happened last award season: “Last year’s Academy award to Avatar (for DP Mauro Fiore) was quite controversial... »
Director Series
Iran’s Best Foreign Film Nominee: Asghar Farhadi’s A SeparationJanuary 2012 | By Jack Egan
One of the surprises of this awards season is A Separation, a highly lauded film from Iran that has captivated reviewers and moviegoers and... »
Danish Director Nicolas Windng Refn Pushes Drive into High Gear
January 2012 | By Jack Egan
Nicolas Windng Refn, director of Drive, doesn’t himself drive. He has failed his driver’s license test eight times. Yet the heralded Danish director came... »