The Hobbit - Awards thread

[Elentári]

I thought it worth starting a separate thread for the subject of possible awards for The Hobbit, so am reposting my BAFTA post from the General Info thread:

The Hobbit: AUJ has been nominated for only three technical awards in this year's BAFTAs...

http://static.bafta.org/files/film-1213 ... s-1647.pdf


Make-up and Hair, Sound, and Special Visual Effects

I'm surprised Art Direction or Costume Design didn't get a nod, at least.



ETA: Arannir has an excellent post over on TORn where he predicts The Hobbit's realistic Oscar chances...

[Elentári]

And The Hobbit has been nominated in the same number of categories as the BAFTAS in today's list of nominees for the 2013 Academy Awards:

Make up
production design
Visual effects

http://oscar.go.com/nominees?cid=AMPAS_oscarnominees

[Primula Baggins]

That's one more nomination than I expected (Production Design). Not bad. And they might well win for makeup and visual effects.

[yovargas]

Though I haven't seen it, from people's reactions I expect Life of Pi will get the effects win.

[sauronsfinger]

Perhaps the number of Academy and Bafta award nominations was lower due to two simple things:

1 - HOBBIT - while being a quality film - was simply not as good as the LOTR films
2- in the minds of many voters, it was much of the same thing that had already been rewarded with so many previous awards for the LOTR films

[Elentári]

I'll add a third -

3. Sequels/prequels don't tend to win awards... (Godfather Part II excepting!)


I do agree with the assertion it is simply not needed in the eyes of many to award this team again, though hopefully DoS and TABA should be critically higher acclaimed, but I also think AUJ is maybe suffering from critical reception, the award momentum was lost perhaps even before that with cynicism over the change to 3 movies from 2...

[Elentári]

The Hobbit: AUJ is also up for 7 Visual Effects Society Awards...


Finally, to complete the nominations news round up, The Hollywood Reporter tells us that

the sound mixing teams of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Les Miserables, Lincoln, Skyfall and Zero Dark Thirty were nominated in the feature competition (live action) of the 49th annual Cinema Audio Society Awards for outstanding achievement in sound mixing, which will be presented Feb. 16 at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel.

[Elentári]

'The Hobbit' nominated for the EXCELLENCE IN FANTASY FILM award at 15th Costumer Designer Guild Awards.

It's up against Cloud Atlas, The Hunger Games, Mirror Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman.

[Elentári]

Variety has revealed that The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey nearly didn't get nominated for an Oscar in the special-effects category!

As the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences keeps pushing the nominating process to earlier dates, films released late in the year sometimes can't be seen by those in charge of voting on which ones will make the final cut to compete for the Oscars.

The committee of 40 experts met on November 28 to come up with a short-list of 20 films that the members of the Academy in the special-effects section could see and vote on by January 3 to determine the final five nominees. Problem was, the committee members had nothing to look at from The Hobbit except its trailers!

The assumption was that this film would be a major visual-effects contender--but that was mainly based on the success of The Lord of the Rings and other Weta Digital work. Not all the members of the committee were happy with including a film virtually sight-unseen. In the end, The Hobbit got its nomination, but as the chair of the committee told Variety, "There will be a post-mortem to review the rules."

[Padme]

Though I haven't seen it, from people's reactions I expect Life of Pi will get the effects win.

Having seen both, I think Pi will win. And absolutely adored The Hobbit effects, even freaked out at the beginning of the film. I was thinking there was some big biker guy standing in front of the screen that I was going to have to have a serious talk with (until it was pointed out to me it was a Hobbit on the screen)

[sauronsfinger]

Was that Thorin you thought standing on the far right hand side of the screen early in the film? I thought much the same thing - the 3D was that good.

[Elentári]

I recall a dark figure on my right-hand peripheral vision at least once...one of the reasons I hate the damned 3D glasses is because they make me feel blinkered! Also, on several occasions I kept turning round, thinking something was happening behind me because of certain noises coming only out of the speaker situated to the rear of the theatre.

[sauronsfinger]

I recall a dark figure on my right-hand peripheral vision at least once...one of the reasons I hate the damned 3D glasses is because they make me feel blinkered! Also, on several occasions I kept turning round, thinking something was happening behind me because of certain noises coming only out of the speaker situated to the rear of the theatre.

The last time we saw it - a week ago - the picture seemed darker than the other times. At the scene where Thorin is standing in front of you on the far right, he looked really shadowy.

Elen - when you turned around to hear the noises did you not notice the other two screens set up on the side of the theaters with a different scene that was playing there? I thought that feature really made the movie. It was kind of a Abel Gance NAPOLEON triptych feature that was disconnected.

But I think I was the only one who noticed it.

[Elentári]

Sure you weren't at one of the different format screenings offered at this cinema?

AN UNEXPECTED SCREENING FORMAT DECISION.


(posted originally by Ax in the General info thread)

[sauronsfinger]

Sure you weren't at one of the different format screenings offered at this cinema?

AN UNEXPECTED SCREENING FORMAT DECISION.


(posted originally by Ax in the General info thread)

WOW!!!! I had not seen that article Elen. That was terrific.

[Padme]

Was that Thorin you thought standing on the far right hand side of the screen early in the film? I thought much the same thing - the 3D was that good.

Yup. Told the person I was with...there's a dude, a big biker dude standing right there...

[Elentári]

Fabulous article about one of the guys up for a Set Decoration Oscar with THE HOBBIT:

Mapua's Ra up for an Oscar

What exactly does a set decorator do?

A set decorator is responsible for filling the set's spaces. My job is to work with the designer on the colour scheme and work out what the final emotive suggestion is behind the character of the environment. I suppose what the set decorator does as well is establishes a feeling behind the environment. If it's a character's home, you can explore what the character does outside of what's been told in the story.

Do you build many items or do you source them from other places?

I work quite closely with the props master and we have a number of workshops in Wellington where we employ artists to work. They'll make all the glass and build the furniture, weave the fabrics in-house. Basically, we control every aspect of what ends up on the film, so they can design everything just right.

With a job like The Hobbit, the environment is so unique that there's not actually a purchasing role in the job. You can't go to the hardware store and buy the right handle for a door because that door is from Middle Earth. Every element goes through a design process and they're all hand crafted, which is heaps of fun.

Sounds like a really enjoyable and creatively satisfying field to work in!

[Elentári]

HOBBIT Loses out to LIFE OF PI at Art Director's Guild Awards

Seems LIFE OF PI is being positioned as the film to sweep the technical categories at the Oscars...

[Elentári]

‘Hobbit’ earns first Oscars with technical awards recognition

A group who worked on “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” received early Oscar awards — for science — Sunday night. Those who perform such technical innovation rarely get even a sniff of the spotlight but Simon Clutterbuck, Richard Dorling and James Jacobs were recognized for their work bringing Gollum to life, especially for his skin and movement.

The new tech makes Gollum appear more lifelike in an approach the team calls “Tissue: A Physically-Based Character Simulation Framework.”

[Primula Baggins]

The Hobbit was shut out at the BAFTAs, losing Visual Effects to Life of Pi and losing Sound as well as Makeup and Hair to Les Miserables.