Entertainment Awards: Some Leading Names

It is the dream of many players within the film industry to win an Oscar. Popularly known as the Oscars, the Academy Award of Merit is purposed to recognise personalities with excellent artistic and technical qualities in the movie industry. This year’s celebration will mark the  94th presentation of awards by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The awards, scheduled for March 27, 2020, will honour the best films released between March 1 and December 31, 2021, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.

Though founded in 1927, the inception of awards was in May 1928. Awards were given in twelve categories namely: most outstanding production, most artistic or unique production, and achievement by an actor, by an actress, in dramatic directing, in comedy directing, in cinematography, in art directing, in engineering effects, in original story writing, in adaptation writing, and title writing.

However, the Academy later expanded the award categories to include:  best picture, actor, actress, supporting actor, supporting actress, directing, original screenplay, adapted screenplay, cinematography, production design, editing, original score, original song, costume design, makeup and hairstyling, sound mixing, sound editing, visual effects, foreign-language film, animated feature film, animated short, live-action short, documentary feature, and documentary short.

Additionally, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presents scientific and technical awards, special achievement awards, honorary awards, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award (for excellence in producing), and the Gordon E. Sawyer Award (for technological contributions), although these are not necessarily awarded annually.

A winner is awarded gold-plated statues called the Oscar. The Oscar has the design of a knight standing on a reel of film and holding a sword. Cedric Gibbons, an art director at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) is credited with the design of the Oscar. Hitherto, the Oscar was cast in bronze and plated with gold. Later, it was made of plastic as bronze was scarce during the aftermath of World War II. Currently, Oscar statutes are made of gold-plated britannia of 13.5 inches and weigh 3.8 kg. The true origin of the nickname “Oscar” has never been determined as there have been many myths associated with the origin of the name.

The maiden edition of the Academy awards featured films that had been released between August 1, 1927, and July 31, 1928. The awards were presented on May 16, 1929, at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Candidates in all categories had been nominated by the entire membership of the academy. A total of ten candidates were selected as having the most votes in each category. This number was later reduced to three recommendations. A central board of judges, each representing a branch of the academy, selected the final winners. Mary Pickford was one of the winners at the event. She won an Academy Award for best actress for her performance in Coquette, (1929).

To maintain the suspense of the ceremony, the names of winners are kept secret until the official announcement at the awards ceremony. This follows the printing of the 1939 winners’ names by the Los Angeles Times in an early evening edition before the ceremony. The move, according to history, drained the ceremony of all its suspense during one of the industry’s biggest years.

The Academy Awards were first televised in the United States in 1953, and have been broadcast internationally since 1969. The red carpet interviews- that looked at the nominees’ taste for fashion became an integral part of the event as it gained popularity. The Oscar awards are considered a major event in the film fraternity globally.  

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a global organization with international recognition. It has members in countries all over the world, making it an influential entertainment platform. An Oscar award plays a significant role in the life of the winner as he or she may get better job offers as well as international media recognition.

REFERENCE

Information from https://www.oscars.org/oscars, www.britannica.com/art/Academy-Award, www.business-standard.com/about/what-is-academy-awards was used in this story