The awards season is narrowing to a close with the upcoming Academy Awards on March 2. The excitement is bubbling up about who’s going to wearing who and who’s bringing who, but more importantly, who’s going to win what. We make our predictions based on which movies were our favorites (or which movies we’ve actually seen) and which actors performed the best (or who we’ve actually heard of). But have you ever wondered how the Academy decides who’s walking away with that coveted gold statue of a naked guy? Well, here is the complete Collegiette’s guide to navigating Oscar voting!
1. Who can win an Oscar?
I made a short movie in one of my classes last year. Does that mean I can win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress? Nope. The Academy publishes a list that regulates what types of work can be considered for nominations, with requirements like:
- The film must be over 40 minutes long
- Very specific film and audio requirements that I don’t understand, like it must be formatted on 35 or 70 mm film and have a minimum non-mono audio configuration of Left, Center, Right
- It must have been shown where admission was sold
- Be in theaters for at least a week
- The film must have “Advertised and exploited during their Los Angeles County qualifying run to industry practice”
- Must have initially premiered in Los Angeles County between January 1 and December 31 of the corresponding year (with some exceptions)
There are other restrictions too, like an actor cannot be considered for a Best Performance award if his or her voice was dubbed over for the entire movie, or if someone else sang for the actor who appeared in the movie and the entirety of the role was singing. This might explain why the Directors of Les Miserables required all the cast members to sing, since they would have been ineligible for an Academy Award if they hadn’t.
2. How do I submit my work for consideration?
The Academy requires that the movie or feature be sent to them in the original theatrical format it was released in, and requires that submitters sign an agreement that they understand the rules and that they are aware they are being considered for nomination.
3. So, how do movies get nominated?
Members of the Academy are provided a “Reminder List” of pictures that are eligible for nomination prior to voting season. Then, the Academy secretly votes for all of the categories with special Academy-distributed ballots, which are counted by a group of certified public accountants at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC). In the nomination process, members of the respective branches of the Academy vote for their peers. For example, directors vote for other directors. In the first round, the ballots are blank and numbered 1-5, where voters rank their top 5 choices. These votes are weighted. The second ballots aren’t weighted, and voters just pick their top choice. Votes for each award have to have five nominations (except Best Picture, which can’t have less than five, but can’t have more than ten).
4. How do movies or actors win?
After the nominations are decided and the final voting process comes along, the Academy sets up special screenings of everything nominated to make sure every member has seen every movie. Then, the voting process goes on like you would imagine: every member votes for one nominee in each category, regardless of what branch of the Academy he’s in. And, if a member is upset her choice didn’t get on the ballot, she’ll have to live, since the Academy doesn’t permit write-in nominees. If there’s a tie, the Academy gives Oscars to both nominees. The only people who can participate in the final voting process are active members or people who are lifetime members of the Academy.
As for voting criteria, apparently there isn’t any. The Academy prides itself on being a peer-to-peer award process, where each member understands what it means to make a movie. The Academy isn’t made up of film critics who are analyzing every aspect of a director’s camera skills and an actress’ performance. It’s made up of accomplished industry professionals and at the end of the day, they’re voting for what they liked best.
So that’s what it all comes down to. While it would be nice to imagine that there’s a system behind the winners that makes sense of all the surprising losers and the shocking winners, it’s all about what the Academy members genuinely preferred. So, now that we know, I guess we’ll find out what movies and performances the Academy loved this year at the 86th Annual Academy Awards this year!
Photo Sources:
http://www.someecards.com/usercards/viewcard/3d5fd3429ea415fce89fd6cd15746608
http://www.someecards.com/movies-cards/twitter-tweets-oscars-academy-awa…
http://www.someecards.com/movies-cards/ben-affleck-oscar-academy-award-argo-funny-ecard
http://www.someecards.com/movies-cards/oscar-losers-academy-awards-smile…