Oscars 2007

[ddelapp]

I won the Oscar pool this year, making me six dollars richer than I was this morning. I got 15 categories right, and missed in 9. Mind you, my choices were based on what I thought would win, which was sometimes different than what I wanted to win. Here's what I missed:

What Won (My Pick)Best Picture: No Country For Old Men (There Will Be Blood

Comments

[joshc]

I spent a good portion of the 5-5:30 red carpet portion of the show on my iphone trying to determine the difference between sound editing and sound mixing. My best interpretation was that editing is related to the creation/production of individual sounds while mixing is related to the overall balance of sounds in a film. I look forward to hearing a better explanation from more knowledgeable commeters.

Even with this bit of research I was killed in my pool by the success of Bourne Ultimatum (which I really liked but didn't suspect of winning. at least it prevented an all out No Country sweep.)

I was really glad that There Will Be Blood at least grabbed a non-Daniel Day Lewis award.

[erik]

I probably would've beaten you in your pool. I spanked most of the important categories, though didn't dare even take a shot at documentary, live action, and animated short.

Frankly I didn't think much of There Will Be Blood, despite my crazy love of PTA. At every turn it seemed to be building to some kind of important climax, and then would simply skirt it and move on to the next thing. I found it confounding and lacking in theme or message. No Country was much more focused, IMHO.

And, for the record: Sound Editing is the layering of sounds and creating a cohesive palette. Sound Mixing, as Josh pointed out, is the volume balancing of those sounds. They're frustratingly similar, yet probably deserve different categories. If the Cinematographer wasn't the one to do the color correction of the film, you'd probably have two Cinematography categories as well.

[joshc]

Maybe I should watch No Country for Old Men again. I thought that it was like an incredibly elegant machine that was fascinating to look at because of its impeccable craftsmanship, but I found little to love in it.

I don't know if either film can be said to have a message or theme aside from "single-minded misanthropic obsession and its consequences". But, for me, at least There Will Be Blood had Daniel Day Lewis's both showy and subtle performance, a funny script, and Johnny Greenwood's dazzling score to hang on to.