The other Oscars

There are two types of people in the world: People who know the difference between art direction and cinematography and people who don’t. 

Those who do know include a large number of Academy members. Those who don’t know want the Oscar ceremony shortened by awarding such categories on a separate evening the way they would for the Grammys or the Governor’s Awards. 

And as interesting as the main categories are, the awards for things like sound mixing, sound editing, film editing, art direction and cinematography do not have locked-in winners just yet.

In many ways, these are the categories worth thinking about the most. A number of editors, DPs and sound guys have been doing brilliant work with brilliant directors for decades, and an Oscar in one of these categories really does indicate greatness in a way the acting categories may not. 

Case in point: Does anyone honestly feel Sandra Bullock is a great actress all of a sudden? 

This year is huge for cinematography, and all five films deserve a place on this list. “Black Swan,” “Inception,” “The King’s Speech,” “The Social Network” and “True Grit” are the nominees. All five cinematographers have been faithfully working with their film’s respected directors throughout their entire careers, and some have shown their terrific craft in other great-looking films as well.

Matthew Libatique has worked on all of Darren Aronofsky’s films save “The Wrestler,” but he also did both “Iron Man” movies and a few of Spike Lee’s recent films. His camera work was the reason “Black Swan” could feel elegant and hypnotic or trashy and psychotic. 

This is the fourth Oscar nomination for Wally Pfister, all of which are for Christopher Nolan films, and the Oscars can often favor action films in this category.

 Jeff Cronenweth has been working with David Fincher and still is on “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” and his “Social Network” cinematography may not be showy, but there is a delicate craft that goes into it.

And who can forget Danny Cohen’s work in “The King’s Speech”? I particularly noticed the giant, yet striking empty wall when Bertie first began speech therapy with Lionel.  
The front-runner, however, is Roger Deakins of “True Grit.” Deakins has now been nominated nine times and has never won.

Although he has been working since the ’70s and shot nearly all of the Coens’ films, two Best Picture winners and “The Shawshank Redemption,” it took going to the friggin’ desert before anyone noticed how good he was. 

However, Best Cinematography does often turn some heads at the Oscars. It’s the sound awards that get hustled through every year. 

The awards usually go to the loud action movies namely because, in terms of sound editing and mixing, they typically have the most. In this case, that film is “Inception,” which is likely to sweep the technical awards. 

But read what film blogger Jim Emerson has to say about the sound mixing in “True Grit” and its nominee Skip Lievsay: “Remember this? Mattie and Rooster are perched up in the hills, waiting for Lucky Ned Pepper and his men to show up.

A man on a horse comes riding up the trail below. It’s dark and he’s too far away to get a good look at, but the moment he dismounts we know who it is. How? A faint jingling of spurs. Lievsay has brought that kind of wit and imagination to sound design for many years.”

These people too are repeat nominees, utterly devout to their directors and veterans in churning out good, solid work film after film. 

They work hand-in-hand with the film editors, and I’m impressed by their craft too. In Film Editing, the front-runner is likely “The Social Network,” which thrives on its seamless shifts in time and perspective, giving it that enchanting “Rashomon” style of storytelling. 

Although if I had to choose, I’d award Best Film Editing to Jon Harris and “127 Hours.” I would also argue this film is the snub in the cinematography category, but here’s a film that is literally trapped in time and space, and through the careful yet frenetic editing of jump cuts, wipes and alternating between queasy and steady cam, we get a riveting, quick and intense film.

Although, I wouldn’t necessarily count out the nominees for “The King’s Speech,” “Black Swan”  or “The Fighter.” It takes editing to make a speech come alive, or a ballet, or a boxing match, or any film for that matter.