First, the origin of Oscar
The official name of the Oscar Award is the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Prize, which was established in 1927 and held once a year in Los Angeles, USA. It has enjoyed a high reputation for more than half a century. It not only reflects the development process of American film art, but also has a noticeable influence on film art in many countries in the world.
1927 in may, American film celebrities launched a "non-profit organization" in Hollywood, named film art and science.
(Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is abbreviated as A.M.P.A.S) Its purpose is to promote the progress of film art and technology. The college decided to recognize the outstanding achievements of outstanding filmmakers and established the AcademyAward. 193 1 year later, the Academy Awards were gradually replaced by its popular name "Academy Awards", and now its official name is little known.
There are different opinions about the origin of the name "Oscar". More credibly, Margaret Herridge, a female librarian of Academy of Motion Picture AMPAS and Sciences Library in 193 1, exclaimed, "Ah! He really looks like my uncle Oscar! " The reporter next door wrote: "The staff of the College of Arts and Sciences affectionately called their golden statue" Oscar ". "Since then, this alias has spread like wildfire.
Second, the Oscar trophy
The main body of the Oscar trophy is a 3.9-kilogram 13.5-inch gilded male statue designed by the famous American sculptor George Stanley. According to the selection rules related to the Oscar, the winner of an award can only get one gold cup. If two people win prizes, they should be given a gold cup respectively.
The appearance of the Academy Awards is a naked man, with his hands crossed on his chest and a long sword in his hand, standing on a five-ring disc. Each circle represents an important working department of the Academy of Film Arts: producers, directors, screenwriters, actors and technicians. The original trophy was made by George Stein with $500 allocated by Meyer. It is thirteen and a half inches high and weighs six and three-quarters pounds. It is made of alloy inside and has a layer of gold outside, which looks shiny, so it is called the Golden Award. The graphic design of the Academy Awards came from Cecil You Ke Gibbons, who was an artist at MGM at that time. His boss Meyer appointed him for the job. Gibbons is one of the most outstanding artistic designs in film history. He not only designed the Golden Award, but also won it later. From the second session to the 29th session, he won 39 nominations in 28 years, and only he won 1 1 gold awards.
Three. Academy Awards Selection
Since 1929, the Academy Awards have been selected and awarded once a year without interruption. All films staged from 1 month 1 day to1February 3 1 day last year can participate in the selection. The selection of the Oscar goes through two rounds of voting. The first round is nomination voting, which is first nominated by the subordinate departments of the college (by secret ballot). Nominated films will be shown in turn at the headquarters of the college, and then all members of the college will vote in the second round (by secret ballot). Finally, the number of votes will determine the award of this film.
The list of winners is highly confidential. After the members of the college voted, all the votes were handed over to PricewaterhouseCoopers for statistics. The ballot papers are kept in a safe and guarded by armed guards day and night. After the statistics, all the documents were burned and kept absolutely confidential. The winners will be placed in a sealed envelope until the award day, and will be publicly announced by the MC.
Fourth, the nomination rules for Oscar films.
Members of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have the final right to vote in the Oscars. They are all professionals in the film industry, including actors, producers and playwrights. In 2002, there were 5,739 members of the Academy of Film Arts, and this year it has increased to more than 5,800. The conditions for becoming a member of the college are very strict: either being nominated for an Oscar; Either you have made an important contribution to the film industry, and you must be recommended by two existing members of the college to join. Jamie Foxx, clive owen and Zhang Ziyi are all new members this year. The top two were nominated for an Oscar last year, and Zhang Ziyi won this honor because of her popularity in the West in the past two years.
1, how to vote?
Oscar awards are voted by categories-actors can only choose acting awards, directors can only choose the best directors, and photographers can only choose the best photography? However, the nominations for best picture were chosen by everyone. After the nominations are announced, each voter will receive a ballot paper with all the nominations printed on it, and he will vote according to his own category.
2. How to launch a propaganda offensive?
Because the honor of Oscar will directly affect the box office, so the film companies will sharpen their heads and squeeze in. Generally speaking, in order to enter the Oscar, a movie needs to spend 3 million to 5 million dollars to promote it. The first places you have to spend money are Variety and Hollywood Reporter, which are two industry publications in Hollywood. Almost all North American filmmakers subscribe to them, so it is necessary to advertise in these two publications.
3. Why is DVD provided?
According to the regulations of the Academy of Film Arts, members must watch 60% to 70% of the films before the nomination vote. One year later, there are almost 300 films that meet the nomination criteria, and on average, almost one film is watched every day! This is impossible for super fans, so the film companies competing for Oscar should make a high-quality DVD (actually called DVDSoreener) for these busy judges to watch. However, if the film has a good reputation and a great response, even if the distribution company is stingy and doesn't send DVDs at all, it won't be too much hindrance. For example, Schindler List in 1993 won the prize without any video or DVD.
4. Who decides the leading role and supporting role?
According to the Oscar rules, who is the leading role and who is the supporting role is completely decided by the voting members. For example, in Brokeback Mountain, Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal play lovers, and there is not much difference in the importance and time of their roles. However, in the nomination voting, Jake Gyllenhaal won about 300 nominations for "leading actor" and more than 500 nominations for "supporting actor", so he was finally the candidate for "supporting actor".
5. Does Oscar need a rehearsal?
In the eyes of Americans, the Oscar ceremony is just like the Spring Festival Evening in China, and it certainly needs many rehearsals. At the last rehearsal before the Oscar night, all the performers and award-winning guests were present. Every 15 minutes, the award-winning guests took turns to walk on the stage and recite the string words-these humorous and bitter string words, which combined movies, fashion and gossip, were not made up by the stars themselves, but written by Bruce Williams for decades.
6. Stars must walk the red carpet?
Before the award ceremony, the stars have to walk the red carpet for an hour. They all got off from six luxury extended cars specially prepared (the rent of these cars is at least 75 dollars per hour, plus 20% insurance). If the big shots want to keep a low profile, they can let the car bypass the red carpet and drive to the back door, and enter the venue through the "green channel" where all media are prohibited.