Well, I've returned from my most recent creative endeavor. His name is Benjamin Matthew, and he's as cute as a button. So after three months of being knee-deep in diapers and midnight feedings, I'm back to report on some of our industry's most creative endeavors, starting with the recent Oscar awards and telecast.
Now, I recognize that today's world is fascinated by celebrities, but I was a little disappointed with the way the telecast decided to save precious air time by herding the nominees in some of the "less star-filled" - and mostly post production - categories on stage until a winner was announced. Then it was just a hop, skip and a jump over to the microphone for a short acceptance speech. No more of that awkward having to get out of your seat stuff: "Excuse me, I just won an Oscar, sorry about stepping on your dress. Oh, was that your foot? Sorry. Did I mention I just won an Oscar?" The tripping issue is still in play, but the probability is reduced considerably if you start out five feet from where you need to end up.
Post production is often referred to as the magic behind the movie, but it's still magic. And this awards show is about the industry celebrating its own, and if you are going to include these categories in the main balloting and telecast they should be afforded the same treatment.
"Certain Academy Awards like Sound, Visual Effects and Editing are sometimes referred to as technical awards. They're not technical awards. They're given for artistic decisions. And sometimes we make them better than others, and I guess we made a couple of good ones on this one." So said Skywalker's Randy Thom, who was nominated in the sound mixing and sound editing categories, when picking up the Oscar for Sound Editing (with Michael Silvers) on "The Incredibles."
The Oscars weren't the only awards given out in Hollywood in February. Creative and technical achievements were also recognized with awards given out by Sci-Tech, VES, ACE and ASC. For details on the winners and the winning technologies, please turn to page 24.
So what was the best you saw last year in terms of post creativity? We, here at Post encourage you to send us your comments, and unlike the Oscars we will give you more than 30 seconds.