Tuesday, February 02, 2010

2010 Academy Award Nominations - Oscars Social Networking Grade = D

In evaluating the 2010 Academy Award Nominations announcements from a New Media perspective, Oscar gets a social networking grade of "D". The criteria is based on reach, Twitter top tag entries, and search trend impact.

Considering the collective movie audience and television and marketing exposure, the 2010 Academy Award Nominations Announcement Event should be the top news of the day, dominating Google Trends, Twitter top hashtags, live stream views, and with all of that, total reach. Instead, Oscar's outdone by "Punxsutawney Phil 2010" or "Groundhogs Day".

That today, February 2nd 2010, is "Groundhogs Day" is no excuse for Oscar to be punked by a couple of groundhogs, but that's what's happening.

The seeds of this problem are various, starting with the fact the Oscar telecast is on one station, ABC early in the morning. If you missed ABC's telecast, or weren't forced to look at the Oscar Nominations by it being on, say, ABC, NBC, and CBS, you didn't know what happened until an hour or so after the event was done.

If three networks had the Oscar telecast, the resulting search activity, and thus the trend metric, would have been greater. But even with that, Oscar's New Media platform was too small to carry the search trend, and still is. Why?

The Oscars are not on Twitter.

That's right. A simple visit to The Oscars website shows what The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences thinks about New Media. It's stuffed down in the lower right corner, where it reads "Connect with the Academy" and has a link to its RSS feed, Facebook page, and YouTube account.

That's it.

Heck, I'm all over the place - Oscar should be too. AMPAS does a massive disservice to its members and sponsors with this awful online production. A well-done Twitter account could gain as much as 1 million followers and cause a total hashtag domination, pushing Phil the Groundhog to second place or no place. But if Oscar's not on Twitter, it's at the mercy of other organizations to push its message and some of those, like Sony, don't have enough Twitter followers themselves.

At just over 7,000 followers as of this writing, Sony has less than this blogger on Twitter. So, it can't really carry its message in such a way as to impact a hashtag list in seconds, and it can't do it for AMPAS' to as wide an audience as is needed to create a lasting buzz that carries for days.

And when Oscar does have a New Media platform to use, it does not have the right strategy. The live stream was such that the chat was on Facebook, so your updates became the chat. Great. Now, my friends are wondering how much coffee I had to produce a pinwheeling set of updates. But beyond that, the live stream had only 15,000 viewers at best.

What Oscar should have done is worked with YouTube on the live event. That would have gained hundreds of thousands of viewers and netted a high search trend impact. Didn't happen.

On YouTube, Oscar's presentation is much better, but again, it has just 29,000 subscribers, when it should have several hundred thousand.  The problem is AMPAS doesn't upload enough videos considering the material it has, and it prevents video from being embed on websites.  Frankly, that's really a bad decision.

There's not a good, metric-based reason for AMPAS decision to basically prevent its own brand from being presented across the web.  None, not one.

Did you see the Steve and Alec video?  Only 908 people did as of this writing.  If it were embedable, that number would be in the thousands.  It would gain more video views that Oscar could then convert into YouTube Partner revenue.

To close what could have been a book, Oscar's dropped the ball on the one event that can and should serve as a catapult to high ratings on Oscar night.  The problem is AMPAS does not take New Media seriously and may very well be the reason why I didn't get the press credential AMPAS sent for me to fill out.

Beyond me, AMPAS needs to fix its New Media problem for 2011.   It's harming Academy members and sponsors and will continue to do so unless it turns this around ASAP.

Stay tuned.

 

2010 Academy Award Nominations List - Avatar, Hurt Locker for Best Picture

The 2010 Academy Award Nominations are out.

AMPAS, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, has just released the full Oscar nominations list for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards. The list was released just after the Oscar Nominations Awards Ceremony held this morning. This year, the Oscar Nominations include 10 movies in the Best Picture Category.

There are some surprises for Best Picture, where the nominees are: Avatar, The Blind Side, An Education,The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire, A Serious Man, Up, Up in the Air.

But the Best Picure race is really between Avatar and The Hurt Locker, which have 9 nominations each, and directors, James Cameron and Katheryn Bigelow, who were once husband and wife.

Here's the full list of Oscar Nominations for the 82nd Academy Awards:

Performance by an actor in a leading role


Jeff Bridges in "Crazy Heart" (Fox Searchlight)
George Clooney in "Up in the Air" (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
Colin Firth in "A Single Man" (The Weinstein Company)
Morgan Freeman in "Invictus" (Warner Bros.)
Jeremy Renner in "The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

Matt Damon in "Invictus" (Warner Bros.)
Woody Harrelson in "The Messenger" (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
Christopher Plummer in "The Last Station" (Sony Pictures Classics)
Stanley Tucci in "The Lovely Bones" (DreamWorks in association with Film4, Distributed by Paramount)
Christoph Waltz in "Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company)

Performance by an actress in a leading role

Sandra Bullock in "The Blind Side" (Warner Bros.)
Helen Mirren in "The Last Station" (Sony Pictures Classics)
Carey Mulligan in "An Education" (Sony Pictures Classics)
Gabourey Sidibe in "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" (Lionsgate)
Meryl Streep in "Julie & Julia" (Sony Pictures Releasing)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

Penélope Cruz in "Nine" (The Weinstein Company)
Vera Farmiga in "Up in the Air" (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
Maggie Gyllenhaal in "Crazy Heart" (Fox Searchlight)
Anna Kendrick in "Up in the Air" (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
Mo’Nique in "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" (Lionsgate)


Best animated feature film of the year

"Coraline" (Focus Features), Henry Selick
"Fantastic Mr. Fox" (20th Century Fox), Wes Anderson
"The Princess and the Frog" (Walt Disney), John Musker and Ron Clements
"The Secret of Kells" (GKIDS), Tomm Moore
"Up" (Walt Disney), Pete Docter


Achievement in art direction

"Avatar" (20th Century Fox), Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg, Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair
"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" (Sony Pictures Classics), Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro, Set Decoration: Caroline Smith
"Nine" (The Weinstein Company), Art Direction: John Myhre, Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
"Sherlock Holmes" (Warner Bros.), Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood, Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
"The Young Victoria" (Apparition), Art Direction: Patrice Vermette, Set Decoration: Maggie Gray

Achievement in cinematography

"Avatar" (20th Century Fox), Mauro Fiore
"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" (Warner Bros.), Bruno Delbonnel
"The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment), Barry Ackroyd
"Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company), Robert Richardson
"The White Ribbon" (Sony Pictures Classics), Christian Berger

Achievement in costume design

"Bright Star" (Apparition), Janet Patterson
"Coco before Chanel" (Sony Pictures Classics), Catherine Leterrier
"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" (Sony Pictures Classics), Monique Prudhomme
"Nine" (The Weinstein Company), Colleen Atwood
"The Young Victoria" (Apparition), Sandy Powell

Achievement in directing

"Avatar" (20th Century Fox), James Cameron
"The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment), Kathryn Bigelow
"Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company), Quentin Tarantino
"Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire" (Lionsgate), Lee Daniels
"Up in the Air" (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios), Jason Reitman

Best documentary feature

“Burma VJ” (Oscilloscope Laboratories), A Magic Hour Films Production, Anders østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller
“The Cove” (Roadside Attractions), An Oceanic Preservation Society Production, Nominees to be determined
“Food, Inc.” (Magnolia Pictures), A Robert Kenner Films Production, Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
“The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers”, A Kovno Communications Production, Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
“Which Way Home”, A Mr. Mudd Production, Rebecca Cammisa

Best documentary short subject

"China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan, Province", A Downtown Community Television Center Production, Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill
"The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner", A Just Media Production, Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher
"The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant", A Community Media Production, Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
"Music by Prudence", An iThemba Production, Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett
"Rabbit à la Berlin" (Deckert Distribution), An MS Films Production, Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra

Achievement in film editing

"Avatar" (20th Century Fox), Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
"District 9" (Sony Pictures Releasing), Julian Clarke
"The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment), Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
"Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company), Sally Menke
"Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" (Lionsgate), Joe Klotz

Best foreign language film of the year

"Ajami" (Kino International), An Inosan Production, Israel
"El Secreto de Sus Ojos" (Sony Pictures Classics), A Haddock Films Production, Argentina
"The Milk of Sorrow", A Wanda Visión/Oberon Cinematogrà/Vela Production, Peru
"Un Prophète" (Sony Pictures Classics), A Why Not/Page 114/Chic Films Production, France
"The White Ribbon" (Sony Pictures Classics), An X Filme Creative Pool/Wega Film/Les Films du Losange/Lucky Red Production, Germany

Achievement in makeup


"Il Divo" (MPI Media Group through Music Box), Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
"Star Trek" (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment), Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
"The Young Victoria" (Apparition), Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

"Avatar" (20th Century Fox), James Horner
"Fantastic Mr. Fox” (20th Century Fox), Alexandre Desplat
“The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment), Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
“Sherlock Holmes” (Warner Bros.), Hans Zimmer
"Up" (Walt Disney), Michael Giacchino


Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)


"Almost There" from "The Princess and the Frog" (Walt Disney), Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
"Down in New Orleans" from "The Princess and the Frog" (Walt Disney), Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
"Loin de Paname" from "Paris 36" (Sony Pictures Classics), Music by Reinhardt Wagner, Lyric by Frank Thomas
"Take It All" from "Nine" (The Weinstein Company), Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
"The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)" from "Crazy Heart" (Fox Searchlight), Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Best motion picture of the year

"Avatar" (20th Century Fox), A Lightstorm Entertainment Production, James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
"The Blind Side" (Warner Bros.), An Alcon Entertainment Production, Nominees to be determined
"District 9" (Sony Pictures Releasing), A Block/Hanson Production, Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers
"An Education" (Sony Pictures Classics), A Finola Dwyer/Wildgaze Films Production, Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
"The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment), A Voltage Pictures Production, Nominees to be determined
"Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company), A Weinstein Company/Universal Pictures/A Band Apart/Zehnte Babelsberg Production, Lawrence Bender, Producer
"Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire" (Lionsgate), A Lee Daniels Entertainment/Smokewood Entertainment Production, Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
"A Serious Man" (Focus Features), A Working Title Films Production, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers
"Up" (Walt Disney), A Pixar Production, Jonas Rivera, Producer
"Up in the Air" (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios), A Montecito Picture Company Production, Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers

Best animated short film

"French Roast" , A Pumpkin Factory/Bibo Films Production, Fabrice O. Joubert
"Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty" (Brown Bag Films), A Brown Bag Films Production, Nicky Phelan and Darragh O’Connell
"The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)", A Kandor Graphics and Green Moon Production, Javier Recio Gracia
“Logorama” (Autour de Minuit), An Autour de Minuit Production, Nicolas Schmerkin
“A Matter of Loaf and Death” (Aardman Animations), An Aardman Animations Production, Nick Park

Best live action short film

"The Door" (Network Ireland Television), An Octagon Films Production, Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
"Instead of Abracadabra", (The Swedish Film Institute), A Directörn & Fabrikörn Production, Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström
"Kavi", A Gregg Helvey Production, Gregg Helvey
"Miracle Fish", (Premium Films), A Druid Films Production, Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey
"The New Tenants", A Park Pictures and M & M Production, Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson

Achievement in sound editing

"Avatar" (20th Century Fox), Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
"The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment), Paul N.J. Ottosson
"Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company), Wylie Stateman
"Star Trek" (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment), Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
"Up" (Walt Disney), Michael Silvers and Tom Myers

Achievement in sound mixing

"Avatar" (20th Century Fox), Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
"The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment), Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
"Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company), Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
"Star Trek" (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment), Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro, Distributed by Paramount), Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson

Achievement in visual effects

"Avatar" (20th Century Fox), Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
"District 9" (Sony Pictures Releasing) , Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
"Star Trek" (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment), Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton

Adapted screenplay

"District 9" (Sony Pictures Releasing), Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
"An Education" (Sony Pictures Classics), Screenplay by Nick Hornby
"In the Loop" (IFC Films), Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
"Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" (Lionsgate), Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
"Up in the Air" (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios) , Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

Original screenplay

"The Hurt Locker" (Summit Entertainment), Written by Mark Boal
"Inglourious Basterds" (The Weinstein Company), Written by Quentin Tarantino
"The Messenger" (Oscilloscope Laboratories), Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
"A Serious Man" (Focus Features), Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
"Up" (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy

More Oscar nominations analysis and breakdown coming today.

Oscar Best Picture Nom for District 9 gets Twitter applause

The Oscar Best Picture Nomination for District 9 got an enthusiastic Twitter applause. The science fiction movie about an alien race held captive in a Johannesburg, South Africa ghetto called District 9 was a hit during the Summer Movie Season.

Still, District 9, without a major star or the path-breaking effects of Avatar, did not take awards season by storm. But when talk about the best screenplay and story came up, District 9 was always in the conversation.

That District 9 scored an Oscar Best Picture Nomination is a by-product of a system where 10 Best Picture Nominees were selected. And while some, like Celeb Blogger Perez Hilton, think that 10 is five too many, and others were upset that Star Trek wasn't in the Best Picture group, the Twitter response was favorable and interesting. Here's a sample:

benyerks RT @mygeektime: DISTRICT 9 ...nominated for BEST PICTURE and SCREENPLAY.... WOW.... NICE!
less than 20 seconds ago from TweetDeck

ahlhelm RT @ThatKevinSmith: Ten fucking slots for Best Picture, and not a-one of 'em for JJ's STAR TREK? That list can't have TWO giant sci-fi movie's on it?

knowsurprises The Oscars are a mixed bag, but i'm glad to see some Sci-fi love for District 9 in best picture. I'm not excited about Sandra Bullock at all
half a minute ago from web

Febreze_Fresh Oscar nominations were announced this morning http://bit.ly/cLJeqP . What film do you think will win Best Picture?
half a minute ago from web

Cheyenne_Lexi @eonline avatar hopefully not best picture! Graphics maybe
half a minute ago from Mobile Web

thordiakow The Blind Side and Up on the Best Picture nom. list? No way man
half a minute ago from web

AvinashBidaia RT @ndtv: Oscar nominations: Best Picture - Destrict 9,Inglorious Basterds, Avatar, Up, Up in the Air, Blind Side| seen these and love them
half a minute ago from UberTwitter

WeFlySpitfires @Sypster If Avatar wins best picture, I will... never watch the Oscars every again. There!
half a minute ago from web

Stay tuned for more analysis and news.

2010 Oscar Nominations List: Oscar has 10 Best Picture candidates

AMPAS, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, has just released the full Oscar nominations list for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards. The list was released just after the Oscar Nominations Awards Ceremony held this morning. This year, the Oscar Nominations include 10 movies in the Best Picture Category.

There are some surprises for Best Picture, where the nominees are: Avatar, The Blind Side, An Education,The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire, A Serious Man, Up, Up in the Air.


Here's the full list of Oscar Nominations for the 82nd Academy Awards:

Performance by an actor in a leading role

Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart” (Fox Searchlight)
George Clooney in “Up in the Air” (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
Colin Firth in “A Single Man” (The Weinstein Company)
Morgan Freeman in “Invictus” (Warner Bros.)
Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

Matt Damon in “Invictus” (Warner Bros.)
Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger” (Oscilloscope Laboratories)
Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones” (DreamWorks in association with Film4, Distributed by Paramount)
Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company)

Performance by an actress in a leading role

Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side” (Warner Bros.)
Helen Mirren in “The Last Station” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Carey Mulligan in “An Education” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate)
Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia” (Sony Pictures Releasing)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

Penélope Cruz in “Nine” (The Weinstein Company)
Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air” (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Crazy Heart” (Fox Searchlight)
Anna Kendrick in “Up in the Air” (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios)
Mo’Nique in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate)

Best animated feature film of the year

“Coraline” (Focus Features), Henry Selick
“Fantastic Mr. Fox” (20th Century Fox), Wes Anderson
“The Princess and the Frog” (Walt Disney), John Musker and Ron Clements
“The Secret of Kells” (GKIDS), Tomm Moore
“Up” (Walt Disney), Pete Docter

Achievement in art direction

“Avatar” (20th Century Fox), Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg, Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” (Sony Pictures Classics), Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro, Set Decoration: Caroline Smith
“Nine” (The Weinstein Company), Art Direction: John Myhre, Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
“Sherlock Holmes” (Warner Bros.), Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood, Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
“The Young Victoria” (Apparition), Art Direction: Patrice Vermette, Set Decoration: Maggie Gray

Achievement in cinematography

“Avatar” (20th Century Fox), Mauro Fiore
“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” (Warner Bros.), Bruno Delbonnel
“The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment), Barry Ackroyd
“Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company), Robert Richardson
“The White Ribbon” (Sony Pictures Classics), Christian Berger

Achievement in costume design

“Bright Star” (Apparition), Janet Patterson
“Coco before Chanel” (Sony Pictures Classics), Catherine Leterrier
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” (Sony Pictures Classics), Monique Prudhomme
“Nine” (The Weinstein Company), Colleen Atwood
“The Young Victoria” (Apparition), Sandy Powell

Achievement in directing

“Avatar” (20th Century Fox), James Cameron
“The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment), Kathryn Bigelow
“Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company), Quentin Tarantino
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate), Lee Daniels
“Up in the Air” (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios), Jason Reitman

Best documentary feature

“Burma VJ” (Oscilloscope Laboratories), A Magic Hour Films Production, Anders østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller
“The Cove” (Roadside Attractions), An Oceanic Preservation Society Production, Nominees to be determined
“Food, Inc.” (Magnolia Pictures), A Robert Kenner Films Production, Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
“The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers”, A Kovno Communications Production, Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
“Which Way Home”, A Mr. Mudd Production, Rebecca Cammisa

Best documentary short subject

“China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan, Province”, A Downtown Community Television Center Production, Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill
“The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner”, A Just Media Production, Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher
“The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant”, A Community Media Production, Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
“Music by Prudence”, An iThemba Production, Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett
“Rabbit à la Berlin” (Deckert Distribution), An MS Films Production, Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra

Achievement in film editing

“Avatar” (20th Century Fox), Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
“District 9” (Sony Pictures Releasing), Julian Clarke
“The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment), Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
“Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company), Sally Menke
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate), Joe Klotz

Best foreign language film of the year


“Ajami” (Kino International), An Inosan Production, Israel
“El Secreto de Sus Ojos” (Sony Pictures Classics), A Haddock Films Production, Argentina
“The Milk of Sorrow”, A Wanda Visión/Oberon Cinematogrà/Vela Production, Peru
“Un Prophète” (Sony Pictures Classics), A Why Not/Page 114/Chic Films Production, France
“The White Ribbon” (Sony Pictures Classics), An X Filme Creative Pool/Wega Film/Les Films du Losange/Lucky Red Production, Germany

Achievement in makeup

“Il Divo” (MPI Media Group through Music Box), Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
“Star Trek” (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment), Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
“The Young Victoria” (Apparition), Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

“Avatar” (20th Century Fox), James Horner
“Fantastic Mr. Fox” (20th Century Fox), Alexandre Desplat
“The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment), Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
“Sherlock Holmes” (Warner Bros.), Hans Zimmer
“Up” (Walt Disney), Michael Giacchino

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

“Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog” (Walt Disney), Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
“Down in New Orleans” from “The Princess and the Frog” (Walt Disney), Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
“Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36” (Sony Pictures Classics), Music by Reinhardt Wagner, Lyric by Frank Thomas
“Take It All” from “Nine” (The Weinstein Company), Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
“The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from “Crazy Heart” (Fox Searchlight), Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Best motion picture of the year

“Avatar” (20th Century Fox), A Lightstorm Entertainment Production, James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
“The Blind Side” (Warner Bros.), An Alcon Entertainment Production, Nominees to be determined
“District 9” (Sony Pictures Releasing), A Block/Hanson Production, Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers
“An Education” (Sony Pictures Classics), A Finola Dwyer/Wildgaze Films Production, Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
“The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment), A Voltage Pictures Production, Nominees to be determined
“Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company), A Weinstein Company/Universal Pictures/A Band Apart/Zehnte Babelsberg Production, Lawrence Bender, Producer
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate), A Lee Daniels Entertainment/Smokewood Entertainment Production, Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
“A Serious Man” (Focus Features), A Working Title Films Production, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers
“Up” (Walt Disney), A Pixar Production, Jonas Rivera, Producer
“Up in the Air” (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios), A Montecito Picture Company Production, Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers

Best animated short film

“French Roast” , A Pumpkin Factory/Bibo Films Production, Fabrice O. Joubert
“Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty” (Brown Bag Films), A Brown Bag Films Production, Nicky Phelan and Darragh O’Connell
“The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)”, A Kandor Graphics and Green Moon Production, Javier Recio Gracia
“Logorama” (Autour de Minuit), An Autour de Minuit Production, Nicolas Schmerkin
“A Matter of Loaf and Death” (Aardman Animations), An Aardman Animations Production, Nick Park

Best live action short film

“The Door” (Network Ireland Television), An Octagon Films Production, Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
“Instead of Abracadabra”, (The Swedish Film Institute), A Directörn & Fabrikörn Production, Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström
“Kavi”, A Gregg Helvey Production, Gregg Helvey
“Miracle Fish”, (Premium Films), A Druid Films Production, Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey
“The New Tenants”, A Park Pictures and M & M Production, Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson

Achievement in sound editing

“Avatar” (20th Century Fox), Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
“The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment), Paul N.J. Ottosson
“Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company), Wylie Stateman
“Star Trek” (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment), Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
“Up” (Walt Disney), Michael Silvers and Tom Myers

Achievement in sound mixing

“Avatar” (20th Century Fox), Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
“The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment), Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
“Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company), Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
“Star Trek” (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment), Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro, Distributed by Paramount), Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson

Achievement in visual effects

“Avatar” (20th Century Fox), Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
“District 9” (Sony Pictures Releasing) , Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
“Star Trek” (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment), Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton

Adapted screenplay

“District 9” (Sony Pictures Releasing), Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
“An Education” (Sony Pictures Classics), Screenplay by Nick Hornby
“In the Loop” (IFC Films), Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate), Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
“Up in the Air” (Paramount in association with Cold Spring Pictures and DW Studios) , Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

Original screenplay

“The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment), Written by Mark Boal
“Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company), Written by Quentin Tarantino
“The Messenger” (Oscilloscope Laboratories), Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
“A Serious Man” (Focus Features), Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
“Up” (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy

More analysis and breakdown coming today.

Oscar Best Picture Noms to Avatar, Hurt Locker, not Star Trek

The Oscar Nominations just concluded and not without some surprises. The final list will be out shortly, but for Best Picture the nominees are: Avatar, The Blind Side, An Education,The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire, A Serious Man, Up, Up in the Air.

That a nomination did not go to Star Trek was a shock to many on the Facebook Livestream, which indicates how the public's going to respond to the news of the list. But with that, Emeryville-based Pixar scored a Best Picture nomination for its animated movie, Up. And in general, I can't remember a Best Picture list that included so many science fiction and animated movies: Avatar, District 9, and Up.

Congratulations to the compelling movie Precious, where Director Lee Daniels, Gaborney Sidibe, Mo'Nique, and the movie itself were honored with nominations in the Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Film Editing, Adapted Screenplay, and Best Picture categories.

Other Best Picture surprises were for The Blind Side, the excellent story about Baltimore Ravens Offensive Tackle Michael Oher and the family who adopted him. While the story is largely around Sandra Bullocks great performance, some forget that without Michael Oher there would be no The Blind Side.

More updates, soon.

Oscar Nominations Livestream Live blog

Oscar Nominations Livestream Live blog. After months of movie watching, opinion sharing, and speculation tracking the day that the nominations for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards is here. Oscar Nomination Ballots were due January 23rd at 5 PM; they've been collected by Price WaterHouse for The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Special screenings to determine the nominees have been done and the Academy members have spoken. Now, the event featuring Anne Hathaway and AMPAS President Tom Sherak, is coming in the morning and you can see it live here:



It starts at 5:38 AM - Refresh for updates.

Starts with the great announcement music.

Best Actors, Actress, Director, Supporting Actor, and Actress true to form with Golden Globes.

Wow. Star Trek not on Best Picture list?

Congrats to Emeryville's Pixar for Best Picture nom for UP.

District 9 gets Best Picture nom.

Best Picture: Avatar, The Blind Side, An Education,The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire, A Serious Man, Up, Up in the Air.

Oscar Nominations Livestream here at 5 AM PST / 8 AM EST

After months of movie watching, opinion sharing, and speculation tracking the day that the nominations for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards is here. Oscar Nomination Ballots were due January 23rd at 5 PM; they've been collected by Price WaterHouse for The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Special screenings to determine the nominees have been done and the Academy members have spoken. Now, the event featuring Anne Hathaway and AMPAS President Tom Sherak, is coming in the morning and you can see it live here:


Watch live streaming video from academyawards at livestream.com

It starts at 5 AM PST / 8 AM PST. This blogger has never tried to predict which movie was going to be nominated, and will not take up the practice in 2010. Stay tuned.

New Zennie62 Widget by Widgetbox has 10 rotating feeds

Widgetbox.com has created a new version of the Zennie62 Widget. This one's unlike any you've seen before. It has tabs representing this blogger's Zennie62.com blog, as well as the Oakland Focus, New York Focus, and San Francisco Focus blogs.

And as the Super Bowl is coming, there's a tab for two more Zennie Abraham blogs: the Super Bowl Blog, and the NFL Business Blog. The Zennie62 Widget also has tabs for the CNN iReport, YouTube, and Blip.tv video channels and the Zennie62 Twitter account.

That's 10 feeds all in one widget. But that's not the only feature: the widget rotates feeds every five seconds, so you can see one feed at a time and its latest contents.

The new widget is the creation of San Francisco-based Widgetbox.com and under my specifications. Now, I have all of my online broadcasts in one place. Most widgets have one feed; this one goes far beyond that.

The widget can be placed on a blog or website, Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter pages.

Thanks to Steve Kloft of Widgetbox for creating the new widget. Below and to the right are version of the Zennie62 Widget. Get one!: