The history of Oscar

The official name of the Academy Award is the Academy Award of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which was established in 1927 and held once a year in Los Angeles, USA. It has enjoyed a high reputation for more than half a century. It not only reflects the development process of American film art, but also has a noticeable influence on film art in many countries in the world.

in may, 1927, American film industry celebrities initiated a "non-profit organization" in Hollywood, which was named The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences（AMPAS） (abbreviated as A.M.P.A.S). Its purpose was to promote the progress of film art and technology. The Academy decided to commend outstanding filmmakers for their remarkable achievements and established the Academy Award. After 1931, the Academy Award was gradually replaced by its popular name "Academy Award", and now its official name is little known.

The origin of the name

There are different opinions about the origin of the name "Oscar". It is more credible that Margaret Herridge, the female librarian of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences（AMPAS） Library, exclaimed after carefully studying the Golden Award in 1931: "Ah! He really looks like my uncle Oscar! " The journalist next door wrote: "The staff of the Academy of Arts and Sciences affectionately called their golden statue" Oscar. " Since then, this alias has spread like wildfire.

In addition, the famous actress Betty Davis claimed that she was the first to name the Oscar. She said that when she won the Golden Award for the first time, she accidentally called her husband, Haimen Oscar Nelson's name "Oscar", which was heard by reporters interviewed on the spot, so it spread all of a sudden.

In addition, there is another saying: While writing a report on a typewriter at the end of the sixth award ceremony, the Hollywood columnist Skorsky forgot the spelling of the Statuette, and he suddenly remembered a scene from a musical he had seen in the past. It was a group of comedians who came to the orchestra pit and jokingly said to the conductor, "Oscar, do you want a cigarette?" The conductor stretched out his hand for it, but these comedians avoided giving cigarettes. This caused great laughter. Scholsky thinks that the golden award is a symbol of desire and should be comic. So he wrote in the report: "katharine hepburn won the Oscar for the role of Ava in Surprised Talent."

according to various analysis, the first statement above is more credible. Because Betty Davis won the Best Actress Award for the first time in 1935, when the nickname Oscar was already a household name. To Scholsky's view that the statue of gold should be comic, this view may not be accepted by the majority of film people.

Oscar trophy

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

The appearance of the Golden Awards is a naked man, with his hands crossed on his chest and holding a long sword, standing on a five-ring disc. Each ring represents an important work department of the Academy of Film and Art: producer, director, screenwriter, actor and technician. The original trophy was made by George Stanley with $5 allocated by Meyer. It was thirteen and a half inches high and weighed six and three-quarters pounds. It was made of alloy inside, and it looked shiny with a layer of gold flakes on the outside, so it was called the Golden Awards. The design of the pattern of the Golden Award came from Seyouk Gibbons, who worked as an artist in MGM at that time. His boss Meyer appointed him to take this job, and Gibbons was one of the most outstanding art designs in the film history. He not only designed the Golden Award, but also won it in the future. From the second session to the 29th session, the class * * * won 39 nominations in 28 years, and he won 11 Golden Awards alone.

The size, weight, structure and price of the statue of Oscar are mostly different in the early days and now.

height: from ten and a quarter inches, it is now thirteen and a half inches (about 34.3 cm).

weight: it was 6.75 pounds (about 3.1 kilograms) in the early days, but now it is 11 pounds (about 5 kilograms).

structure: early tin-copper alloy (92.5% tin and 7.5% copper), coated with gold foil; Now it is tin and ammonium alloy. After polishing, it is coated with 1K gold foil, and then fine grinding, with 24K gold foil on the outside and luminous paint on the outermost layer.

price: in the early days, each trophy was worth $3, but now it is worth $35.

On September 2nd, 1941, the ownership law of the Oscar Award was promulgated, which stipulated that the trophy should not be bought, sold or mortgaged. In case of any occurrence, the college headquarters would claim compensation equivalent to the price of the trophy from the seller. Also, if a prize is won by several people, then all other prize seats will be charged at the original price.

Since 1943, as tin, copper and other metals are important strategic materials, Oscar-winning statues have been made of gypsum and coated with gold for four consecutive years. After the war, these plaster statues were exchanged for metal statues.

All winners will get a gold necklace and give it to their relatives. This necklace is engraved with the name of the relative, and there is an Oscar gold statue with a length of 3.5 cm hanging on it.

the setting of Oscar awards

The first Oscar awards were different from the present, with only seven items: ① best film, ② best actor, ③ best actress, ④ best director, ⑤ best screenwriter, ⑥ best photography and ⑥ best art design. And two other special awards: artistic quality award and technical effect award, but these two awards were only given once, and the second one was cancelled. The first winners of the Golden Awards were born on February 18th, 1929, and presented at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood on May 16th, with about 25 attendees.

Oscar awards can be divided into three categories: achievement awards, special awards and science and technology awards. Achievement awards mainly include best film, best script, best director, best performance (leading actor and supporting actor), best photography, best artist, best music, best editing, best costume design, best makeup, best short film, best documentary, best foreign language film and so on. Special awards include the Honorary Award, Owen Sulberg Memorial Award, Joan HerCholtes Humanitarian Award, Scientific and Technological Achievement Award and Special Achievement Award. Among the above-mentioned numerous awards, the most influential is the Best Film Award, and the Best Actor and Actress Award belongs to the main performance award. The winners are called "the film emperor" and "the film queen", which is a great honor for actors and actresses.

The previous 19th Oscar Awards only evaluated American films. Since the 2th Oscar Awards, the Best Foreign Language Film Award has been included in the special awards. The participating films must be large-scale feature films released in commercial cinemas in a certain country from November 1st of last year to October 31st of next year. Only one film is sent from each country, which is recommended by the film organization or review committee of that country, with English subtitles, and submitted to the Foreign Film Committee of the Academy for review. Then a secret ballot was held to select five nominated films. After watching five films, a jury composed of 4, American film authorities selected the best foreign language film. The prize is awarded only to works, not to individuals. From 1947 to 1993, Italy won ten awards, France won seven awards, Sweden won four awards, and Japan, the former Soviet Union and the Federal Republic of Germany won three awards each.

Rules of Oscar Awards

Since 1929, the Academy Awards have been selected and awarded once a year without interruption. All films staged from January 1st to December 31st last year can participate in the selection. The selection of the Academy Awards goes through two rounds of voting. The first round is nomination voting, which is first nominated by the subordinate departments of the Academy (by registered ballot). The nominated films will be screened in turn at the headquarters of the Academy, and then all members of the Academy will vote in the second round (by secret ballot). Finally, the number of votes will determine the film's award.

The winners' list is highly confidential. After the members of the college voted, all the votes were handed over to Price-waterhouse accounting firm in the United States for statistics. The ballot papers are kept in the safe and guarded by armed guards day and night. After the statistics, all the papers were burned and kept absolutely confidential. The winners' lists will be put into sealed envelopes until the award day, and will be announced by the emcee in public.

The Oscar judging rules consist of two parts: the judging institution rules and the judging award rules.

Generally speaking, the judging organization of the Oscar is not complicated, and it is divided into two pyramid forms. The highest level is the jury of the president of the college, and the jury of the branch of the college is set up. The chairman of the jury is selected from 14 affiliated societies (Actors Association, Directors Association, Art Directors Association, Photography Association, Artists Association, Screenwriters Association, Film Executives Association, Film Editing Association, Film Producer Association, Music Association, Recording Association, Public Relations Association, Short Film and Long Film Animation Association, Visual Effects and Authors Association). Except that the chairman of the presidium is from the film editing association, other members respectively select three representatives from each of the remaining associations. Officials of the presidium include the chairman, the first vice-chairman, the two vice-chairmen, the treasurer and the secretary-general, with a term of one year and no more than four consecutive terms. The management activities of the college are mainly carried out under the supervision of the executive appointed by the chairman of the college. The term of office of the members of the presidium is one year, and they may be re-elected for no more than three terms in the same position. The main conditions for the selection of members of the presidium are your contribution and reputation in this industry, and the recommendation of at least two serving members. Besides professional judges, the jury of branch societies under the presidium also includes a huge team of voluntary members, with five or six thousand voluntary members in each branch, which is actually the real source of Oscar influence.

Compared with the rules of Oscar's judging organization, the rules of Oscar's judging awards are quite complicated, with dozens of pages. Although the annual rules of the Oscar have hardly changed in recent years, they will still be published on the official website http://www.oscars.org on time and meticulously.

the topic of the rules includes several parts-the qualification conditions for participating films, the voting rules and the specific selection methods for various awards.

the college's restrictions on the qualification of participating films

1. The length of a feature film is longer than 4 minutes, and it has been shown in public with 35mm or 74mm film or non-video tape.

2. To be screened in a commercial cinema in Los Angeles, and the advertising and market development during this screening period are in line with the industry practice, the screening time must be between January 1, 23 and December 31, 23.

3. Before it is released in Los Angeles, it has to be premiered in commercial theaters outside the United States. If the film is not shown in theaters (such as radio, cable TV, home videos and the Internet), it will not be eligible to participate in the Oscar selection. It can't be released in media other than cinemas within six months after the premiere, and it can be released in non-cinema media after six months.

4. Submit before the deadline stipulated in the award.

5. When submitting the film, it should be accompanied by a comprehensive and true list of reliable film production staff, as well as the name of the Los Angeles cinema where the film was shown and the screening date.

6. films submitted to the Council for evaluation cannot be taken back on January 31, 24.

7. The Council will finally determine the qualification for the selection. The Council will not be interfered by any man-made obstacles, and it will make its own independent decision for the award selection.

8. In case of any dispute, the board of directors has the right to reserve the award until the dispute is resolved.

9. The announcement by the chairman of the Film Association of a country or region of the nomination qualification for an Oscar award for a certain film or related film materials not only shows that the project has been shortlisted for the Oscar competition (whether it is nominated or not, whether it is nominated by the final academy and whether it is announced with Kodak Theatre on the day of the award ceremony, and whether it is awarded or not will be judged separately by the American Film Institute and IMDB)

The voting rules for awards are limited

1. The final round of voting for all kinds of awards is only those colleges that are active for life.

2. Eligible films will be put into the annual "screening list" of the Oscars.

3. Except for the performance award voting, the leaflet "Selection Projection Form" for nomination voting only refers to the names of participating films and does not include the names of relevant individuals.

4. Nominations and awards are selected by secret ballot, and the printed ballot is provided by the college. Qualified notaries appointed by the president of the college will open and count the votes.

5. In the nomination voting, all the votes are scored by priority selection and weighted average system. Non-nominated films are not eligible for the final selection.

6. There shall be no more than five nominations for each award.

7. If a nominated film is declared disqualified by the board of directors for some special reason, no new film will be added to fill the vacancy, and this film will enter the next round of voting with one less nominated place.

8. If the winning film is co-produced, the author of the work will get a golden statuette, unless the number of prizes in this award is limited. If two films get the same score in the final vote, both films will be awarded prizes.

as for the selection methods and rules of various specific awards, due to the limitation of space, I won't list them one by one here. But we should pay special attention to the selection rules of the best foreign language film, because this seems to be closely related to us.

Selection Rules for Best Foreign Language Film

1. A foreign language film participating in the Oscar Award refers to a film that is longer than 4 minutes, released and produced outside the United States, and is mainly spoken in non-English.

2. The participating foreign language films must be premiered in China within a specified time period, and be continuously shown in commercial theaters for more than seven days with 35mm or 7mm film.

3. The chosen dialogue should be the mother tongue of the country. Accurate and expressive English film titles are needed.

4. A country can only submit one film.

5. The Academy will issue a formal registration form to the participating institutions, so that the participating film production companies can fill in the detailed information. On the presumed date, the college office must receive the film registration form, cast list, producer list, short English medicine, director introduction, film poster, etc.

6. At the same time, a copy of the film should be sent, and the content must be the same as the original.

7. The foreign language film judges' awards were voted in secret to produce five best nominations.

8. The final round of voting for the best foreign language film is only eligible for those active lifelong college members to participate.

9. Foreign language films can also participate in other awards, but only if they are shown in a commercial cinema in Los Angeles for at least seven consecutive days, and the advertising and market development during this period are in line with the industry practice and must be shown within the specified time period.

1. After winning the Best Foreign Language Film Award, the director will receive the Oscar Award on behalf of the team.

Oscar's strategy

One of Oscar's strategies: the establishment of authority

The establishment of Oscar's authority is not achieved overnight, on the one hand, it depends on its strict implementation of rules and respect for film art; On the other hand, it is completely stained with political light. Aosi