Introduction to the Academy Awards

Introduction to the Oscars - -

Among the many film awards in the world, perhaps none is more famous and has a longer history than the Oscars. Every year when the awards ceremony is held, more than 200 million people around the world watch the live performances, and countless stars come here from all over the world to participate in this event.

Looking at the 71-year history of the Oscars, you will feel the progress of film art and art, and you can see the important position of the Oscars in the world film industry.

The establishment of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

In the 1920s, the American film production industry had taken root in Southern California, with nine major companies centered in Los Angeles: Warner, Columbia, and RKO , ***, Paramount, MGM, United Artists, Fox, Universal, etc. have been established one after another. Films are continuously produced and are popular both in the United States and abroad. In order to make films, major companies hope to They control their subordinates with the cheapest salary in order to earn more profits, but the actors and actresses hope to receive higher treatment. Therefore, the directors and actors have the intention to form a union. The film company bosses were worried that once the union was established, it would be difficult to control the organization, so MGM Ongo President Louis. On Meyer's initiative, the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was established in November 1926. (Academy of Mation Picture Arts and Sciences).

Although Meyer had an ulterior motive in founding the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, most members have higher ideals: they hope that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences can promote the standards of film art and science and strengthen the industry's Exchange of ideas on skills and experience, improvement of filmmaking equipment and equipment, encouragement and awards for outstanding practitioners, so the annual Oscar Awards Ceremony was born in the future. It was proposed by the first chairman Douglas Fairbanks and won The directors enthusiastically seconded the proposal, and in July 1928, a task force developed a voting method for members. After discussion and approval by the directors, a nomination list was first generated, and then the winners were voted on. This set of nominations ( Nomination) system has been used ever since and has been imitated and adopted by many film festivals around the world. It is one of the biggest features of Oscar.

The name of the Academy Awards

The official name of the Oscar Awards is the "Academy Awards". Oscar is just a name. There are different opinions about the origin of this name. The more credible one is that in 1931, Margaret Herridge, a female librarian at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Library, was surprised after carefully examining the Academy Award trophy. exclaimed: "Ah! He looks so much like my uncle Oscar"! The news reporter next door wrote after hearing this: "The staff of the Academy of Arts and Sciences affectionately call their golden statue Oscar." From then on, this nickname spread like wildfire.

Oscar Trophy

The main body of the Oscar trophy is a 13.5-inch gold-plated male statue weighing 3.9 kilograms, designed by the famous American sculptor George Stanley. According to the selection rules related to the Oscars, the winner of an award can only receive one Golden Statue trophy. If two people win an award, they should be awarded a Golden Statue trophy to each of them.

The Academy Award looks like a naked man, with his hands crossed on his chest, holding a long sword, standing on a five-ring film tray, each ring represents an important work of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Department: Producer, Director, Screenwriter, Actor, Technical Staff. The original trophy was allotted $500 by Meyer and given to George Stanley to make. The trophy is thirteen and a half inches high and weighs six and three-quarters of a pound. Inside It is an alloy with a layer of gold flakes on the silver surface, which looks sparkling, so it is called the Golden Statue Award. The design of the Academy Award graphics came from Cecilia Gibbons, who was working as an artist at MGM at the time. His boss Meyer appointed him to do this job. Gibbons is one of the most outstanding art designers in film history. First, he not only designed the Academy Awards, but also won the Academy Awards in the future. From the second to the 29th, he received thirty-nine nominations in 28 years, and he personally won eleven. Gibbons participated in art design work in almost all of the outstanding films produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and the Academy Awards.

Selection of the Academy Awards

The Academy Awards have been selected and awarded annually since 1929, and have never stopped. All films performed from January 1st to December 31st of the previous year can participate in the selection. The selection of the Academy Awards goes through two rounds of voting. The first round is the nomination voting. Each department under the Academy is responsible for the nomination (using a registered method). The nominated films will be screened in rotation at the Academy headquarters. After watching, all members of the Academy will then A second round of voting will be conducted (a secret method will be used), and the number of votes will ultimately determine the winner of the film.

The list of winners is highly confidential. After the members of the Academy vote, all votes are submitted to the accounting firm Price-Waterhouse in the United States for counting. The ballots were placed in safes, guarded day and night by armed guards. All the papers used after the statistics were burned and kept strictly confidential. The list of winners will be placed in sealed envelopes until the day of awarding, when the emcee will open the envelopes and announce them in public.

Awards set by the Oscars

The first Oscar awards were different from the current ones, with only seven items: ① Best Picture ② Best Actor ③ Best Actress ④ Best Director ⑤ Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Art Design. There are also two other special awards: Artistic Quality Award and Technical Effect Award, but these two were only awarded once and were canceled in the second session. The first Academy Award winner was elected on February 18, 1929, and the awards were presented at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood on May 16, with about 250 people in attendance.

The Oscar Awards can be divided into three categories: Achievement Awards, Special Awards and Science and Technology Awards. Achievement awards mainly include best film, best screenplay, best director, best performance (heroine and actor, supporting role), best photography, best art, best music, best editing, best costume design, and best makeup , Best Short Film, Best Documentary, Best Foreign Language Film, etc. Special awards include the Honorable Mention, the Irving Thalberg Memorial Award, the Joan Hersholt Humanitarian Award, the Scientific and Technological Achievement Award and the Special Achievement Award. Among the many awards mentioned above, the most influential is the Best Picture Award, while the Best Actor and Actor Award is the main performance award. The winners are known as the "Best Actor" and "Queen", and it is an honor coveted by actors and actresses. .

The first 19 Oscars only awarded American films. From the 20th Oscar, the Best Foreign Language Film Award was only included in the special awards. The film to be selected must be a large-scale feature film that was released in a commercial theater in a certain country from November 1st of the previous year to October 31st of the next year. Only one film from each country is selected. This film is recommended by the film organization or censorship committee of that country. It must be subtitled in English and sent to the Academy's Foreign Film Committee for review. A secret ballot is then held to select the five nominated films. After watching the five films, a jury composed of 4,000 leading figures in the American film industry will select the best foreign language film. This award is only awarded to works, not to individuals. From 1947 to 1993, Italy won ten times, France won seven times, Sweden won four times, and Japan, the former Soviet Union and the Federal Republic of Germany each won three times.