Academy Award Week (2013): Costume Design, Telling a Story

Over the years at the Academy Awards one of my favorite and most under appreciated categories is Costume Design.  The costumes tell a story, and help make some of the best visual representation on screen.

If you think about the many years of film there are numerous iconic costumes, which have become unforgettable. All the way back to 1939 you have Scarlet O'Hara's numerous dresses including her curtain dress, to Dorothy's plaid dress to costuming people in a galaxy far far away in Star Wars, all the way to Miranda Priestly's many outfits and jackets she threw on Andrea's desk.  Film costumes throughout time have evolved fitting the need of their film, and defined a viewer's experience.

Scott Feinberg at The Hollywood Reporter (THR) put together a great piece talking with their fashion consultant at THR about this year's costumes.  One of my favorite comments that was made was that films that do not fit within the fantasy or period piece realm are often not recognized at the Academy Awards.  A couple examples which were cited even citing some period film which were ignored this year were Moonrise Kingdom, Argo, and Skyfall.  Skyfall is the perfect example, look at those fantastic suits, and the dresses of the Bond girls.  These films told a story through the clothes on the screen, and while many take them for granted they are one of the most important elements of a film.

If you look at past years think of films like Devil Wears Prada, and their great costumes.  Prada was competing against the power house period costumes from Marie Antoinette. Period films from much older eras, and fantasy films often dominate these categories.  If you look at the last 10 years of Costume Design nominees 98 percent of the nominees fit within this category.  Even looking at this year the fantastic costumes the nominees completely within this trend.  The major question is will the Academy break from this and realize the role in which non-traditional costume design plays within a film, or will they keep up with the same pattern?

Anna Karenina-Jaqueline Durran

Les Miserables-Paco Delgado

Lincoln-Joanna Johnston

Mirror Mirror-Eika Ishioka

Snow White and the Huntsman-Colleen Atwood

Of all the nominees the favorite is Anna Karenina, Jacquline Durran's works is flawless and based on the pictures above as a representation of of the costumes as characters it is the easy favorite to win this trophy.   Durran should have won this award for her work in Atonement, but was beat by another period film Elizabeth: The Golden Age. If any film were to challenge Karenina I would like that to be Mirrror Mirror, the costumes elevated this film beyond any level.  Eika Ishioka passed away before Mirror Mirror was even released and she did not get to see see her fantastic work hit the screen.  Colleen Atwood is the veteran in this category; she has nine nominations and three wins, and while her work is solid she will not be making it up to the podium this year.

Will Win: Anna Karenina
Spoiler: Mirror Mirror

Oscar Roundup 2012: Anna Karenina, Life of Pi, and Skyfall win at Art Director's Guil

At the Art Director's Guild (ADG) awards tonight three films took home the top honors.  The ADG break down their nominees and winners into three categories: Period Film, Fantasy Film, and Contemporary Film.  This years nominees in each category were as follows:

Period Film
Anna Karenina
Argo
Django Unchained
Les Miserables
Lincoln 

Fantasy Film
Cloud Atlas
The Dark Knight Rises 
Life of Pi
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Prometheus

Contemporary Film
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Flight
The Impossible 
Skyfall
Zero Dark Thirty

The winners in each category were, Anna Karenina, Life of Pi, and Skyfall.  The first two winners have a shot at taking Oscar gold, but since the Academy rarely recognizes contemporary art direction Skyfall did not even make the cut as one of the nominees.

The Oscar nominees would fit within the Best Production Design Category, and the nominees are:

Anna Karenina
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Lincoln 

Come Oscar time this is is actually going to be a hard category to predict, Anna Karenina and Life of Pi both have their own merits, but this race is between these two films.  Look for Pi to have Hugo like wins, sweeping most of the technical races.

Art Director's Guild help set the Stage for the Newly Best Production Design Oscar Category

Today the Art Director's Guild announced their awards, and while there were no surprises, except no Moonrise Kingdom these Guild Awards help show which smaller films have more support.  In the film categories they also break down the nominees by genre: period, fantasy, and contemporary film.

The actual Oscar nominees usually fall between the Period and Fantasy film categories.  I think this year's Oscar nominees will be all of the period films (minus Argo) and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.  Cloud Atlas and Life of Pi have a strong shot to knock out Django, but I think Django's recent release gives the film a leg up on the competition.

I have to add that the television nominations are also incredible, and they nominated two of my favorite shows, Newsroom, and Community. Bravo!

NOMINEES FOR EXCELLENCE IN PRODUCTION DESIGN FOR A FEATURE FILM IN 2012:

Period Film

ANNA KARENINA
Production Designer:  Sarah Greenwood
ARGO
Production Designer:  Sharon Seymour
DJANGO UNCHAINED
Production Designer:  J. Michael Riva
LES MISÉRABLES 
Production Designer:  Eve Stewart
LINCOLN 
Production Designer:  Rick Carter

Fantasy Film

CLOUD ATLAS  
Production Designer:  Uli Hanisch, Hugh Bateup
LIFE OF PI 
Production Designer:  David Gropman
PROMETHEUS 
Production Designer:  Arthur Max
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES 
Production Designers:  Nathan Crowley, Kevin Kavanaugh
THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY 
Production Designer:  Dan Hannah

Contemporary Film

FLIGHT  
Production Designer:  Nelson Coates
SKYFALL 
Production Designer:  Dennis Gassner
THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL
Production Designer:  Alan MacDonald
THE IMPOSSIBLE 
Production Designer:  Eugenio Caballero
ZERO DARK THIRTY 
Production Designer:  Jeremy Hindle

===

NOMINEES FOR EXCELLENCE IN PRODUCTION DESIGN IN TELEVISION FOR 2012:

One-Hour Single Camera Television Series

BOARDWALK EMPIRE Episode:  Resolution
Production Designer:Bill Groom
DOWNTON ABBEY Episode:  Christmas Special
Production Designer: Donal Woods
GAME OF THRONES Episode:  The Ghost of Harrenhal
Production Designer: Gemma Jackson
HOMELAND Episode:  The Choice
Production Designer: John D. Kretschmer
NEWSROOM Episode:  We Just Decided To
Production Designer:Richard Hoover

Television Movie or Miniseries

AMERICAN HORROR STORY: ASYLUM Episode: I Am Anne Frank, Part 2
Production Designer:  Mark Worthington
GAME CHANGE
Production Designer:  Michael Corenblith
HATFIELDS and MCCOYS
Episode:  Ep.#1.1-Night One, Ep.#1.2-Night Two, Ep.#1.3-Night Three
Production Designer:  Derek R. Hill
HEMINGWAY & GELLHORN
Production Designer:  Geoffrey Kirkland
MOCKINGBIRD LANE
Production Designer:  Michael Wylie

Episode of a Half Hour Single-Camera Television Series

COMMUNITY Episode:  Pillows and Blankets
Production Designer:  Denise Pizzini
GIRLS Episode:  Pilot
Production Designer:  Judy Becker
MODERN FAMILY Episode:  Mystery Date
Production Designer:  Richard Berg
PARKS & RECREATION Episode:  Soda Tax
Production Designer:  Ian Phillips
THE NEW NORMAL Episode:  Sofa’s Choice
Production Designer:  Tony Fanning

Episode of a Multicamera, Variety, or Unscripted Series

2 BROKE GIRLS Episode:  And The Silent Partner
Production Designer:  Glenda Rovello
DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION            

Production Designer:  Bruce Rodgers
HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER Episode:  The Magicians Code Part 1
Production Designer:  Stephan Olson
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE Episode:  Mick Jagger Host
Production Designer:  Keith Raywood
THE VOICE
Production Designer:  Anton Goss, James Pearse Connelly

November Movies to See and Skip

This past month was filled with spooky stories (mostly sequels or re-makes), and indie darlings.  Most of the films released throughout the month of October were a build up Halloween, even the animated features.

There was Paranormal Activity 4, Silent Hill 2, and Sinister, these were the films that tried to get you to jump.  Then there two animated feature Hotel Transylvania, and Frankenweenie.  Frankenweenie received the best reviews, but did lousy at the box office, and Hotel Transylvania received middling reviews but was one of the biggest successes at the box office.  While Paranormal Activity had a solid opening, it was way down from the previous installments, and failed to hold a steady box office proving the franchise is weakening.  Most folks would rather stay in and watch their favorite old Halloween films than the ones coming out at the movies.

People wanted drama in the month of October.  The main star, of October, was the Ben Affleck directed Argo, which got amazing reviews (it was a great film), and has already made 60 million making it the Best Picture front runner at the moment.  Taken 2 has performed solidly at the box office, but was trashed by critics, I am intrigued to see if they turn this into a trilogy.

Then there the the bombs on all accounts, Here Comes the Boom, Alex Cross, and Chasing Mavericks.  These films did incredibly poorly, and received terrible reviews.  Like within our government its time for Hollywood to assess the structure of their film releases and the movies they are making.  Here's to hoping November is a bit more exciting.

November 2nd

Flight

Wreck-It Ralph

Look for Flight and Wreck-It Ralph to improve last week's box office numbers by a lot.  Wreck-IT Ralph will do well because it will appeal to kids of all ages, and looks just plain fun.  The film is also getting great reviews.  Denzel fans will show up for this one; he has a great box office track record, combine that with Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump) directing and you have a hit.  Both are must see movies of the month.

November 9th

Skyfall (November 8th)

Lincoln

Another weekend filled with must see movies.  Skyfall looks fantastic, and its already killing it over seas at the box office.  Combine that with it being the 50th anniversary of the films, and you have a surefire hit on your hands.  I have seen Lincoln already, and boy is it great.  No film maker has tackled Lincoln, and Spielberg was the man for the job!

November 16th 

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 (15th)

Anna Karenina 

Thank God the Twilight Saga is ending, that's all I have to say about that!  Anna Karenina looks beautiful, and Keira Knightly has grown into a very talented actress.  Twilight will dominate at the box office for the rest of November.

November 23rd

Silver Linings Playbook

Life of Pi

Hitchcock

Rise of the Guardians

Rust and Bone

Thanksgiving weekend has a lot of interesting options, Life of Pi is being hailed as "the next Avatar" in television spots, but I do not think audience are going to show up like they did for Avatar.  The film looks solid though.  Silver Linings Playbook will have the Juno effect, solid cast solid word of mouth, and it will do well at the box office.  Hitchcock and Rust and Bone both look fantastic but they will do solid business in their limited release.  Rise of the Guardians looks weird and I am not sure the marketing is working well at the moment, so it could be a lower box office draw.

November 30th

Killing them Softly

Brad Pitt playing a bad-ass never looked so good, this film has a great cast and solid reviews, and looks bloody (literally) brilliant.  I am there!

Must See-Flight, Wreck-It Ralph, Lincoln, Skyfall, Silver Linings Playbook, Hitchcock, Life of Pi, Killing Them Softly

Skip-Twilight (come on folks)