Last night, millions of viewers tuned in to watch the longest show in the universe. Can they make it any longer? I feel like they could have at least started earlier...or cut some of the fluff. Oh, I know. They should just cut out all the categories that they will definitely start playing music to signal its their time to leave the stage and cut them off sooner. They only need 5 seconds, right? Why even give them the chance to thank people if you are just going to play them off, or simply cut them short. Very rarely do they cut the audio from the mic. They usually play the music so loudly that the winner has to scream.
Granted, usually the thank yous run too long anyways, and someone starts rambling or its just not a good acceptance speech. By far, Ben Affleck's was the best acceptance speech. Why? Cause yes he thanked people, but he also brought an emotion that just lacks from most of the winners last night. Not so much an emotion, now that I think back, but he added just a little bit more of him. The whole part about how he never thought it would happen again. It was a story about his journey and how honored he was by this award. Why can't everyone make acceptance speeches like that?
There were definitely a few surprises last night. Animated Feature was a close one. What should have won was ParaNorman. It was technically amazing, visually beautiful, and had a good story. What I thought would have won was Wreck-it Ralph. It had the story and that Disney pizzazz that everyone loves. Instead, Brave won. Yes, its beautiful. Yes, its a testament for technical achievement in animated films. But the story. It was alright. But it was a film that started with a very serious note and a darker theme, and then they 'changed' directors and they wound up making it more funny and slap stick. I kinda wanna see Brenda Chapman's version. I think it would be awesome!
For Animated Short, Paperman was a good, safe choice. I liked it. The story was great. But the other shorts were great too. I really liked Adam and Dog. And Head Over Heals pulled at my heart strings. But I am happy with what won.
As for Hair & Make-up, did they think that they go actual Dwarves from Middle-Earth? Almost every actor in The Hobbit had prosthetics on their face. But whatever. Maybe they thought they should just wait til the 3rd movie to give it its recognition.
And now for the VFX award. Won by....Life of Pi! No big surprise at all. It was a film that was largely shot on green screen and brought to life with amazing effects. No one can argue it wasn't justly won. But something happened last night that is kinda bugging me and a lot of folks I know. The Jaws theme played to usher off the VFX guys! Really? Lets give time to everyone else, but not to they guys and the hundreds of artists who made that film even possible. Imagine doing Life of Pi practically. No CG whatsoever. You can't! Even if they had a real tiger, you can't just sink a ship like that. Or create a storm that immense. Or have a whole zoo under water (there would probably some horrible animal abuse to get those shots practically). Its just not possible. Below are two blog posts that probably sum up what us artists are feeling right now.
Actors get paid millions and get residuals. The average VFX artist gets an unstable job and lives paycheck to paycheck, project to project. If you think they get paid well, you're just kidding yourself.
http://blog.sfgate.com/thebigevent/2013/02/25/biggest-oscars-snub-a-shark-attack-on-the-vfx-industry/
http://thebigsocialpicture.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-oscar-protest-that-you-didnt-know.html
No comments:
Post a Comment