+Tore Nielsen Thats actually genius. If the awards were different each year studios wouldnt be able to make an "oscar movie" designed to win awards. Film makers would have to focus on making their films good rather than fit in a box.
I'm not fond of the idea of merging the actor/actress categories. Because if, for example, a male actor is awarded twice consecutively, everyone will be shouting: "Sexism! Oppression!"
***** I think digital and practical should have their own categories. And when I say "practical" I generally mean stuff like prosthetics which people say is included in make-up but is really more effects related.
+TheGrapeinc I think the reason there isn't a stunt category for Oscars/GG/BAFTA etc is because stunt persons might want to push for more extreme and dangerous stunts- in other words putting their lives on the line for a trophy.
Best Stuntwork: Mission Impossible 5 or Mad Max Best use of existing music: The Martian Best push of the art form: Can't think of one Best Directional Debut: Alex Garland (Ex Machina) Best Use of Real Life Locations: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Ellis Lamai Mine: Best Stuntwork: Mad Max Best use of existing music: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night Biggest Push of the Art Form: Field Niggas / Horse Money Best Directional Debut: László Nemes (Son of Saul) Best Use of Real Life Locations: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
My new film award category ideas, emphasising the unacknowledged: Best Exploding Helicopter Best Saccharine Animal Best Threequel Best Accent Best Gratuitous Butt Close-up Best Leading Actor in a Liam Neeson Movie
I don't know if I could come up with five categories, but I would LOVE a best ensemble cast category for those movies where everyone is amazing in a moderately sized role
Best Film That Avoids Using "Science" As a Verb Best Film That Avoids Using Whatever the Director's Favorite Song Is The Week of Final Sound Edit Best Editing Out of The Never Believable Tilda Swinton
Best actor/director we've overlooked so far and has now made a good enough movie without too much competition so we can give him the award now rather than having to give him a lifetime achievement award later.
Imagine if they merged Best Actor and Actress, every year there will be a "Why the Academy is sexist" when they god forbid give the award to a man instead of a woman, so I guess it is better to leave this way
I think they need a best ensemble category. When you look at a film like Spotlight there are so many great performances that it's hard to say which one is better.
Great question. These are some of the categories I would like to see, based on what I appreciate in films. - Best linguistic performance (uses of accents, speech impediments, usage of tone to emphasis emotions). - Most fitting usage of non-conventional film aspects (black and white ('The White Ribbon'), unique structure ('Adaptation'), nonlinear plot ('Memento')). - Best invention in storytelling (the slowly changing aspect ration in 'Tom at the Farm' for example).
1) Best Leonardo Dicaprio performance 2) Best actress alongside Leonardo Dicaprio 3) Best script written for Leonardo Dicaprio 4) Best director to have cast Leonardo Dicaprio 5) Best song in a Leonardo Dicaprio film All of these awards would of course be accepted by Leonardo Dicaprio.
I like the idea mentioned of giving awards to the outstanding performances of the year. The number of which depends on how many outstanding performances there were. Maybe included in the award giving could be snippets of quotes from the academy or equivalent on why they were chosen.
I definitely think there should be some sort of category for best comedy as too many times we get a genuinely great comedy movie that goes unnoticed by the BAFTAs and the Oscars, films like Borat, The Hangover and 21/22 Jump Street have all received extremely positive critical acclaim and have been a big hit with the people yet they fail to get recognition from the top awards.
An award they really need: Best Specialty or Best Non-Traditional Performance. This is where you put animated voice-overs, motion capture, and narration.
This is a complete aside to Mark's point but still on the topic of changing out categories work; I really think the Oscars would be a lot more interesting if it worked in a ranking system instead of a First-Past-The-Post-style "winner takes all" idea. So you'd have like 15 movies presented at the start of the night so plenty of great films get their mention, and then throughout the night they'd work their way up from number 10 to number 1. It would add a lot more tension and excitement, in my view, than just waiting for the end of the night which of the 6 or so films gets acknowledged. Also it seems like with each passing year, the need for Best MoCap Performance grows more prescient. Personally I'd also like the introduciton of a Best Family Film Category, so the Oscars can start taking the Best Animation Category seriously instead of just chucking it to Pixar every year. Then as others have said, an Innovation Award for daring new ideas in film-making, and a Best Debut for up-and-coming creators.
5 new categories won't be enough. Let's have: Best Male Newcomer Best Female Newcomer Best Drama Bast Thriller Best Action, Adventure or Fantasy Best Comedy Best Musical Best Sci-fi Best Horror Best Independent film And for the ladies: Best Romance That there will sort out most problems.
Leaving the current categories aside for a minute, after seeing Tom Donahue's documentary Casting By, I think it's about time we had an award for casting. If the DGA have such a problem with it the award can be split between the director and the casting director. Celebrating diversity, inspired casting and the finding of new talent, this year's nominations could include: Beasts of No Nation, Straight Out of Compton, Room, The Force Awakens and the Big Short/Diary of a Teenage Girl. Also an award for best motion capture/animated performance ('Best Animation Assisted Performance'?) would be great and there a more than enough contenders.
Best Collective Performance in a live action film Best Single Performance in a live action film Best Animation Best Animation Character (shared between actor and character's animator) Best Cinematography/Visual Entertainment (covering camerawork, location, emotional effect and general wow-ness of the shot/scene).
Best independent film Best child performance (13 and under) Best newcomer (director) Best practical effects Best set piece (outstanding scenes, like a hybrid of most awards in one based on one particular scene in a film i.e the church sequence in Kingsman)
So i havent looked below, sorry if i copy. Im guna play it pretty safe, here's 5 categories I think we will see in next 10 years .Best Performer .Best trailer .Best blockbuster (budget restricted) .Best motion capture actor (and they must name it the Serkis award) .Best Franchise (done twice a decade)
The Martian was one of the best films to come out last year, and certainly funnier than most of the comedies I saw. I'm just glad to see it get some recognition.
Best Child (under 18) Performance Best Practical Effects Best Trailer Best Blockbuster (so award always goes to one of top 5 grossing movies) Best single shot
I realise this is an old video, but my 5 choices for new categories would be the following: - Best Motion-Capture or Voice Performance - Best Cast - Best Stunt Ensemble - Best Choreography (Action or Dance) - Best Actor/Actress in an Ensemble Role Other Ideas: - Cutest Dog - Meryl Streep Award (just given to Meryl Streep for whatever film she’s been in that year)
Best Performance can even include cameos if it is the best performance seen Best Film includes all genres Best usage of sound includes design and soundtrack Best Cinematography Best Stunt Work
Is it worth having individual awards at all? You could probably do well enough with just a long list and a short list, plus it means that the other films on the same list don't have to be labelled as "not as good" when the call was only made because it had to be and the difference was actually pretty small. You could then have a ceremony for shout-outs that critics gave them so if a film or actor was conspicuously better than the others, they're still recognised. Anyway, some categories: Best pictures (including animated and foreign language so they have to be considered on an even footing with everything else or ignored in which case people can call the academy out) Best performances, Best scenes, Best sound and visual design (I put those together because neither of them's as effective if it doesn't match the other one. Again, you could have a shout-out ceremony if one's notably better than the other) Best screenplays and direction. Five might be pushing it, I'd probably split that up
Maybe do something like Man Booker Prize: instead of 20 nominees divided into four categories, have a "longlist" of 20+ performances. On awards night, announce a shortlist of 5 or 6 performances, and a final winner.
Very difficult question and had to think quite a bit about what each standard category says about those who were nominated and have won. In the end I realized the problem was really just about making these categories more defined and meaningful, though I did take some liberties with what I thought mattered i.e. fresh new faces and approaches to the medium. Excuse how poor my titles are. Standout Performance (Lead) Contender Performance (Supporting) *Based on the "daring" and strength of "presence" in the film Fresh Filmmaking (Director) *Breath of life brought to the medium by the filmmaker i.e. fresh or innovative direction. Impact Picture (Film) *The film that resonated with the audience the most and with (extra credit) a fresh perspective, heart or meaning. In other words, film that reaches you and/or "makes a difference." Couldn't decide on a fifth category between outstanding independent film, debut film or performance, or unnecessarily redefining the foreign film category which I'm "OK" with. Also, though I wish Animation films were considered with live-action feature films, it might be best that they're not to avoid over crowding the categories and creating more problems concerning voice acting, motion capture, and mixtures with films like Avatar and The Congress.
The supporting prize is important in the sense, that it values the act of supporting another actor/actress, it should not be about screentime, but about if they actual do a good job at playing the lead character up. If there is doubt whether it is a supporting character, clearly then it should not be considered for the category, since it is trying to lead instead of support. One of the things that made the original Star Wars trilogy so great, was some great supporting performances especially Billy Dee Williams as Lando and Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca, notice how well they play up Harrison Ford and Lea and their relation. Lando as his old smuggler friend, justifies some of Hans cockiness by being even more charming and flirting, putting Han a bit in the background as he then gets frozen, making him getting drag away a much more powerful scene, because he got a bit down to earth by his loving relation to Chewbacca and Lando taking some of the heat. They have nearly as much screentime, but their act are clearly supporting.
Best cast - the whole cast being awarded for an ensemble Best soundtrack selection - for non-original music Best debut role Best voice actor Best film debut /Best film by a young person (I know Cannes does somethig like this)
It would probably have to swing into what MTV has done. But it could be presented in a less slap-stick way. Stuff like- Best Scene Best Character Relationship Best Cry Moment Best Scary Moment Best Funny Moment or it could get more technical with specific awards for stuff like- Pacing, Lighting, Time-Period Accuracy, and two I'd especially like because they'd push creators to change stuff up more- "Dramatic Innovation" and "Technical Innovation"
Awards categories: Best tone (I.e. for a film that just doesn't put a foot wrong); Best performances by an actor in two different films in the same year (e.g. Tom Hanks for Captain Phillips and Saving Mr Banks); Most popular film (it's about time Bond and Star Wars got some awards); Best moment (like when the children find each other again in The Impossible); Most imaginative casting of Sean Bean.
Split the main awards into 2 categories. Major Release (over a certain budget) and an Independent Release (under a certain budget) Best Motion Picture Best Director Best Actor Best Actress Best Supporting Performance (male or female)
Best emotional experience Best popcorn movie (i.e. you know what your going to get - a couple hours of escapism) Best stand out performance Most re-watchable film Life changing experience Award
Best explosion Best fight scene Best car chase Best facial expression Best performance by a background extra Best conversation Best hairdesign Best foreign language subtitles
+BilboB lol best performance by a background extra, the perfect way to kick start your acting career, maybe someone could also just be known for playing an extra and win the award like ten times.
I think it should be like the Ballon d'Or (which I think is a bit of a farce in itself)- but that format. Begins with multiple nominations, whittled down to three. Only one film wins, and everybody who worked on that film gets a damn Oscar to take home. Makeup, sfx, everybody. It would mean a hell of a lot more if it was only one film, and possibly alter the way these types of films are made for the better. Promoting the collective effort rather than the individual, which, ironically, is the exact opposite of the Ballon d'Or. Failing that: Best Film (all genres) Best Actor (any role) Best Score Best Cinematography Best Director
Films set in space, Best science in a film, Best accent in a film, Biggest Twist ending in film, Best ironic film set in Canada :) new categories would actually get me interested in awards again.
Most Entertaining film Most thought - provoking film Best independent film Best studio film Best Performance (Including both actors and actresses) Best supporting performance maybe not have all of these categories at all awards ceremonies but I think it needs to be acknowledged that film is far more diverse than the award nominations list suggests. where are the nominations for films such as Tangerine and A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night if not just at festivals? it is hard to define that the winner of Best Film is superior to any of these films. Also, I think there will be a time when it is simply best performance when all performances male or female are acknowledged as equal contenders at awards ceremonies.
Until movies like The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Matrix, The Dark Knight and many others over the years start to be recognized for their greatness there needs to be a separate category for Best film or the people voting need to re-examine the criteria for which they vote for best film. A majority of the film audience will agree that the year those movies came out they were either their favorite film of the year or in their top 5.
I like the idea of merging actor/actress and lead/supporting. Perhaps they should just be replaced with 4-5 identical rewards just for great performances. Like a Michelin star they are given out for exceptional performances. Maybe don't even set a limit on it, if it's a rubbish year hand out 1 or 2, if it's a great one hand out loads. It would remove the politics of competition.
+Jamie Chaplin In the current social/political climate if they merged leading actor/actress a man would never win the award again. Frankly I think the current awards format is perfectly fine, although Kermode is right to point out having The Martian in 'comedy' is pretty ridiculous.
+scotty686 "In the current social/political climate if they merged leading actor/actress a man would never win the award again." HAHAHAHA please tell me this is a typo?
1. Best Ensemble - I'm not sure why The Oscars or the Golden Globes do not have this. I'm not quite sure if they ever did (please let me know). But I feel that it would give actors with more minor or overlooked roles recognition. 2. Best Voice or Motion Capture actor - a bit annoying of a category, but there are too many skilled actors who preform these roles and overlooked every year. 3. Best Independent film - some award ceremonies have taken advantage of this type of category. Such as not nominating some independent features in favor of naming them as best picture. But it would give recognition to smaller films. Best Debut Director - a common category that would allow many viewers of The Oscars to see the future creative minds in cinema. Best Producer - a category that Wienstien could easily linchpin his way into each year. However sometimes a producer develops more than one film a year and should be recognized for their effort overall rather than on one picture.
I actually think saying the Martian is a comedy is fine. I get it has dramatic elements, but a huge proportion of the characters are comedic characters... Mark Watney, the head of NASA, Richard Parnell, the head of JPL, a couple of the guys on the spaceship. I think it has so many comedic elements that it's fine calling it a comedy. Not sure about categories. Maybe we could have like: Best Film Best Actor (over 20 minutes) Best Actress (over 20 minutes) Best Actor (20 mins or less) Best Actress (20 mins or less It's kind of hard with just five lol... I don't think we are ready, as a society, to move away from nominating women and men in different categories. I just think in the current climate, women would unfortunately hardly ever win (regardless of whether they deserved to or not).
I agree with almost everything you said except for Idris Elba. He was fantastic in BONN but Abraham Attah completely owned that movie in my opinion. It's like Heath Ledger in TDK. He commanded the screen but this doesn't mean he should've recieved a leading actor nomination.
1. Best Actor (male or female) costing more than 10 million 2. Best Actor (male or female) costing less than 10 million 3. Most expensive special effects film 4. Best new (novel) screenplay and for the fifth either: Most innovative fourth film of a quadrilogy or Best remake of an earlier film
Best single performance of the year, regardless if male or female, including motion capture and puppetry (remember Frank Oz's sensational work as Yoda in "The Empire Strikes Back"?). Best stunts / stunt performer. Best crew (union and non-union). Best movie done with a miserable budget. Most advanced storytelling in a mainstream motion picture (rather heady, I know, but it can be tried for a couple of years).
The oscars used to say "And the winner is...", but that means the other are losers, and Hollywood does not have losers, so now they say "And the Oscar goes to....". I don't know what year it was changed but that's true.
I'm confused about the Animated Feature film category to be honest. Wallace and Gromit is the only winner of the award to be made on film. And then there is Film Editing, which hasn't been appropriately titled since Michael Kahn last won
Best Picture Best Actor/Actress (expanded like the Oscars best picture where it can have between 6-10 nominations) Best Director Best Supporting Actor/Actress (expanded like the Oscars best picture where it can have between 6-10 nominations, must have less than 3/4 the screen time as lead)
Also no actor/actress allowed to be nominated twice in the same year, if done 2 or more great performances option to share nomination so only counts as 1
I keep telling myself every year that the awards are stupid but this year takes the cake. The Oscar nominations are a complete joke, but at least it will make the Kermode Awards interesting.
My question is this: Why can't Cate Blanchett and Roony Mara both be up for Best Actress in a Leading Role? Look at F. Murray Abraham and Tom Hulce who went head to head in Amadeus or Gena Davis and Susan Sarandon in Thelma and Louise. I think it's great when you get a battle of the Leading Actors.
My 5 new categories would be: 1. Best Character of the Year (not necessarily in acting, but also in character, design, uniqueness and so on) 2. Best Soundtrack (in addition to best original score) 3. Best Film with low budget/production-value 4. Best Visually Appealing Film (prettiest movie) 5. Most Innovative Film of the year
+Dan Hakimov Prettiest movie of the year is a great title but who on the film would be responsible if it won? Sometimes the director, sometimes the make up artist, sometimes the lighting designer, sometimes the lead actress. Makes it sound even better. Perhaps a best pretty performance to go with it - Matt Damon would win this year. And best ugly film, best ugly performance to balance the pretty ones.
Best Digital Cinematography/Cinematography design. When you see Gravity and Life of Pi winning cinematography awards and the only person on stage is the cinematographer. That is just wrong. They did not shoot those scenes in Life of Pi, they shot a guy in a swimmimg pool. They designed the look in association with effects teams (That they then push to bankruptcy) and the effects teams builds it practically from scratch.
My (slightly more serious) new film award category ideas: Best Art Film Best Use of 3D Best Young Actor/Actress Best Casting Best Interior/On Location Cinematography I like the idea of awards that push things the right way.
+So Jin Choi Yes, it would be nice to see it permanently there so that great performances at a young age can be acknowledged and to encourage new talent in the difficult early part of the career.
The following nominations are awards I would to see introduced at the Oscars. Because there are so many franchises how about Best Blockbuster/Sequel/Prequel Best Adapted Score and how about bringing back the Best Newcomer at the Oscars - with one male award and one female award Best Credited Cameo Best Debut Director Best Scene in a Motion Picture Best Individual Music Composition Best Trailer Best On Screen Chemistry Best Performance in a critically average/bad film Best Comedy/Musical Best FemalePerformance in any role ( replacing the current two awards) Best Male Acting Performance in any role. ( replacing the current two awards) Most Consistent Actor of the year Most Consistent Actor of the year Best Ensemble Cast Best Voice Actor in an animated motion picture Best Voice Actress in an animated motion picture Best Voice Cast Ensemble and I know Kermode will hate for this but I would also give one for : Best 3D usage in a motion picture.
+Stephen Taylor The following nominations are awards I would to see introduced at the Oscars. Because there are so many franchises how about Best Blockbuster/Sequel/Prequel Best Adapted Score and how about bringing back the Best Newcomer at the Oscars - with one male award and one female award Best Credited Cameo Best Debut Director Best Scene in a Motion Picture Best Individual Music Composition Best Trailer Best On Screen Chemistry Best Performance in a critically average/bad film Best Comedy/Musical Best Female Performance in any role ( replacing the current two awards) Best Male Acting Performance in any role. ( replacing the current two awards) Most Consistent Actor of the year Most Consistent Actress of the year Most improved Actress of the year Most improved Actor of the year Best Ensemble Cast Best Voice Performance by a Male in an Animated Motion Picture Best Voice Performance by a Female in an Animated Motion Picture Best Voice Cast Ensemble in an Animated Motion Picture and I know Kermode will hate for me for this but I would also give one for : Best 3D usage in a motion picture.
I'd suggest getting rid of judging acting performances by gender and replacing with categories that reflect the different types of performances that contemporary film-making demands, such as Best Voice Performance in animated films, or Best Motion-Capture Performance. You might also consider separate awards for Best Portrayal of a Real Person and Best Portrayal of a Fictional Character, since these distinctions can place differing demands on the actor. Best Performance Against Type would be interesting too.
Maybe have some depedancy on screen time. Best Actor/Actress are the Actor/Actress with the most screentime, or who appear greater than say 1/3 of the films length.
Ithink the word "best"needs to go. Subjective is Subjective, it doesn't matter how you want to word it but the word "favourite" can make people more comfortable. With that, acting should be condensed. The five additional categories are: -Favourite Film -Favourite Male Performance -Favourite Female Performance -Favourable Direction -Favourite Screenplay
Let's not forget that these are the Golden Globes which are seen as a bit of a joke! No one really takes them any seriously. Ricky Gervais lays in to the Hollywood foreign press every time he hosts and they've invited him back 4 times, supposedly a 5th. So it says a lot about what people think of the globes. There's no real problem with the academy's categories or any other big awards shows.
Interestingly I laughed more than 6 times in the martian. That does not define it as a comedy, but under Kermode's rules it makes it a good comedy if it was defined as such.
My catorgories would replace best actor/actress and supporting as I agree, it's hard to distinguish. Best Male performance Best Female performance Best Young male performance Best Young female performance (-20) Best Action film (as this genre is exciting yet not always the best narrative wise or acted)
Some films just have a range and aren't easily categorized is all. The Martian had some great comedy bits, more so than other films this year. Not to mention the soundtrack being the punchline to some bits, true not a musical. I'm fine with the awards given though.
Best Make & female Physical performance for roles perhaps not featuring much spoken word such as leo in the revenant or Tom hardy in madmax. Or really rather than have many catergories have fewer for acting awards and instead praise actors for standout and notable performances than one individual. So that all nominees are then award winners and just a male and female standout performance award.
Think up new categories every year. Prettiest 2nd Unit Gaffer, Most Bellicose Director, Fewest Cuts...
+Tore Nielsen Thats actually genius. If the awards were different each year studios wouldnt be able to make an "oscar movie" designed to win awards. Film makers would have to focus on making their films good rather than fit in a box.
I'm not fond of the idea of merging the actor/actress categories. Because if, for example, a male actor is awarded twice consecutively, everyone will be shouting: "Sexism! Oppression!"
+TheScytheman666 thats the main reason why we should get them! ;-)
The only ones who cares about this stuff is the guys how get angry at hypothetical public rage
Best Stunt Work
Best Soundtrack
Best Mo-Cap performance
Best Debut
Best Practical Effects
***** I think digital and practical should have their own categories. And when I say "practical" I generally mean stuff like prosthetics which people say is included in make-up but is really more effects related.
The Hallow and Fury Road are the only ones I can think off the top of my head.
Best Stunt Work
Best Use of Existing music
Biggest Push of the Art Form
Best Directional Debut
Best Use of Real Life Locations.
+TheGrapeinc I think the reason there isn't a stunt category for Oscars/GG/BAFTA etc is because stunt persons might want to push for more extreme and dangerous stunts- in other words putting their lives on the line for a trophy.
+KJ Stunt person's wouldn't be in charge of choosing what stunts they do, that would be the director.
Best Stuntwork: Mission Impossible 5 or Mad Max
Best use of existing music: The Martian
Best push of the art form: Can't think of one
Best Directional Debut: Alex Garland (Ex Machina)
Best Use of Real Life Locations: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Ellis Lamai
Mine:
Best Stuntwork: Mad Max
Best use of existing music: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Biggest Push of the Art Form: Field Niggas / Horse Money
Best Directional Debut: László Nemes (Son of Saul)
Best Use of Real Life Locations: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
My new film award category ideas, emphasising the unacknowledged:
Best Exploding Helicopter
Best Saccharine Animal
Best Threequel
Best Accent
Best Gratuitous Butt Close-up
Best Leading Actor in a Liam Neeson Movie
+whowatches thwatchmen Agreed, that last one made me belly laugh.
+Kick's Mix Gaming
Best robot fight
Best CGI racist stereotype
I don't know if I could come up with five categories, but I would LOVE a best ensemble cast category for those movies where everyone is amazing in a moderately sized role
Best Film That Avoids Using "Science" As a Verb
Best Film That Avoids Using Whatever the Director's Favorite Song Is The Week of Final Sound Edit
Best Editing Out of The Never Believable Tilda Swinton
Best actor/director we've overlooked so far and has now made a good enough movie without too much competition so we can give him the award now rather than having to give him a lifetime achievement award later.
Imagine if they merged Best Actor and Actress, every year there will be a "Why the Academy is sexist" when they god forbid give the award to a man instead of a woman, so I guess it is better to leave this way
Exactly!
+Aza Jabar
I think that's why Kermode wants them merged. That way it's always the women winning.
"And the award for 'non-speaking waitress with the most realistic coffee pouring action' goes to..."
I personally find awards in general to be so extremely superfluous. I would prefer if we did away with the whole practice
Yeah, to me at least the Oscars have been an absolute joke for a long time.
Least Irritating Use Of "You Think This Is A Game?!" And "You Still Don't Get It, Do You?" In Dialogue.
Best 'oscar worthy' performance.
Best 'not trying for an oscar' performance.
Most Innovative should definitely be an award.
I think they need a best ensemble category. When you look at a film like Spotlight there are so many great performances that it's hard to say which one is better.
I've never understood why in this day and age, there's no Best Showrunner award at The Golden Globes.
Great question. These are some of the categories I would like to see, based on what I appreciate in films.
- Best linguistic performance (uses of accents, speech impediments, usage of tone to emphasis emotions).
- Most fitting usage of non-conventional film aspects (black and white ('The White Ribbon'), unique structure ('Adaptation'), nonlinear plot ('Memento')).
- Best invention in storytelling (the slowly changing aspect ration in 'Tom at the Farm' for example).
1) Best Leonardo Dicaprio performance
2) Best actress alongside Leonardo Dicaprio
3) Best script written for Leonardo Dicaprio
4) Best director to have cast Leonardo Dicaprio
5) Best song in a Leonardo Dicaprio film
All of these awards would of course be accepted by Leonardo Dicaprio.
best innovation in filmaking
best soundtrack( not just score)
best hero/villain
award for originality
I like the idea mentioned of giving awards to the outstanding performances of the year. The number of which depends on how many outstanding performances there were. Maybe included in the award giving could be snippets of quotes from the academy or equivalent on why they were chosen.
I definitely think there should be some sort of category for best comedy as too many times we get a genuinely great comedy movie that goes unnoticed by the BAFTAs and the Oscars, films like Borat, The Hangover and 21/22 Jump Street have all received extremely positive critical acclaim and have been a big hit with the people yet they fail to get recognition from the top awards.
An award they really need: Best Specialty or Best Non-Traditional Performance. This is where you put animated voice-overs, motion capture, and narration.
This is a complete aside to Mark's point but still on the topic of changing out categories work; I really think the Oscars would be a lot more interesting if it worked in a ranking system instead of a First-Past-The-Post-style "winner takes all" idea. So you'd have like 15 movies presented at the start of the night so plenty of great films get their mention, and then throughout the night they'd work their way up from number 10 to number 1. It would add a lot more tension and excitement, in my view, than just waiting for the end of the night which of the 6 or so films gets acknowledged.
Also it seems like with each passing year, the need for Best MoCap Performance grows more prescient. Personally I'd also like the introduciton of a Best Family Film Category, so the Oscars can start taking the Best Animation Category seriously instead of just chucking it to Pixar every year. Then as others have said, an Innovation Award for daring new ideas in film-making, and a Best Debut for up-and-coming creators.
Best performance.
Best film of the year
Best original score
Best screenplay
Best visual effects
5 new categories won't be enough.
Let's have:
Best Male Newcomer
Best Female Newcomer
Best Drama
Bast Thriller
Best Action, Adventure or Fantasy
Best Comedy
Best Musical
Best Sci-fi
Best Horror
Best Independent film
And for the ladies: Best Romance
That there will sort out most problems.
Leaving the current categories aside for a minute, after seeing Tom Donahue's documentary Casting By, I think it's about time we had an award for casting. If the DGA have such a problem with it the award can be split between the director and the casting director. Celebrating diversity, inspired casting and the finding of new talent, this year's nominations could include: Beasts of No Nation, Straight Out of Compton, Room, The Force Awakens and the Big Short/Diary of a Teenage Girl.
Also an award for best motion capture/animated performance ('Best Animation Assisted Performance'?) would be great and there a more than enough contenders.
Best Stunts, Best Motion Capture Performance, Best performance in an animated film..
Haven't we been here before? Did Anthony Hopkins really have enough screen time in THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS to warrant a Best Actor award?
Best Convincing Ensemble
Best Tracking Shot
Best Subtitles
Best Atmosphere
Best Gravy
Best Collective Performance in a live action film
Best Single Performance in a live action film
Best Animation
Best Animation Character (shared between actor and character's animator)
Best Cinematography/Visual Entertainment (covering camerawork, location, emotional effect and general wow-ness of the shot/scene).
Best independent film
Best child performance (13 and under)
Best newcomer (director)
Best practical effects
Best set piece (outstanding scenes, like a hybrid of most awards in one based on one particular scene in a film i.e the church sequence in Kingsman)
So i havent looked below, sorry if i copy. Im guna play it pretty safe, here's 5 categories I think we will see in next 10 years
.Best Performer
.Best trailer
.Best blockbuster (budget restricted)
.Best motion capture actor (and they must name it the Serkis award)
.Best Franchise (done twice a decade)
Idris Elba is definitely a supporting actor in Beasts of No Nation. The film is told from the Childs perspective throughout.
Best Stunt Performance
Best Script Supervisor
Best Soundtrack
Best Newcomer
Best Ensemble Performance
The Martian was one of the best films to come out last year, and certainly funnier than most of the comedies I saw. I'm just glad to see it get some recognition.
Best Child (under 18) Performance
Best Practical Effects
Best Trailer
Best Blockbuster (so award always goes to one of top 5 grossing movies)
Best single shot
I realise this is an old video, but my 5 choices for new categories would be the following:
- Best Motion-Capture or Voice Performance
- Best Cast
- Best Stunt Ensemble
- Best Choreography (Action or Dance)
- Best Actor/Actress in an Ensemble Role
Other Ideas:
- Cutest Dog
- Meryl Streep Award (just given to Meryl Streep for whatever film she’s been in that year)
Best Performance can even include cameos if it is the best performance seen
Best Film includes all genres
Best usage of sound includes design and soundtrack
Best Cinematography
Best Stunt Work
Best horror movie, best comedic drama, best debut performance
Is it worth having individual awards at all? You could probably do well enough with just a long list and a short list, plus it means that the other films on the same list don't have to be labelled as "not as good" when the call was only made because it had to be and the difference was actually pretty small. You could then have a ceremony for shout-outs that critics gave them so if a film or actor was conspicuously better than the others, they're still recognised. Anyway, some categories:
Best pictures (including animated and foreign language so they have to be considered on an even footing with everything else or ignored in which case people can call the academy out)
Best performances,
Best scenes,
Best sound and visual design (I put those together because neither of them's as effective if it doesn't match the other one. Again, you could have a shout-out ceremony if one's notably better than the other)
Best screenplays and direction. Five might be pushing it, I'd probably split that up
best extra best assistant
Maybe do something like Man Booker Prize: instead of 20 nominees divided into four categories, have a "longlist" of 20+ performances. On awards night, announce a shortlist of 5 or 6 performances, and a final winner.
Very difficult question and had to think quite a bit about what each standard category says about those who were nominated and have won. In the end I realized the problem was really just about making these categories more defined and meaningful, though I did take some liberties with what I thought mattered i.e. fresh new faces and approaches to the medium. Excuse how poor my titles are.
Standout Performance (Lead)
Contender Performance (Supporting)
*Based on the "daring" and strength of "presence" in the film
Fresh Filmmaking (Director)
*Breath of life brought to the medium by the filmmaker i.e. fresh or innovative direction.
Impact Picture (Film)
*The film that resonated with the audience the most and with (extra credit) a fresh perspective, heart or meaning. In other words, film that reaches you and/or "makes a difference."
Couldn't decide on a fifth category between outstanding independent film, debut film or performance, or unnecessarily redefining the foreign film category which I'm "OK" with. Also, though I wish Animation films were considered with live-action feature films, it might be best that they're not to avoid over crowding the categories and creating more problems concerning voice acting, motion capture, and mixtures with films like Avatar and The Congress.
The supporting prize is important in the sense, that it values the act of supporting another actor/actress, it should not be about screentime, but about if they actual do a good job at playing the lead character up. If there is doubt whether it is a supporting character, clearly then it should not be considered for the category, since it is trying to lead instead of support.
One of the things that made the original Star Wars trilogy so great, was some great supporting performances especially Billy Dee Williams as Lando and Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca, notice how well they play up Harrison Ford and Lea and their relation.
Lando as his old smuggler friend, justifies some of Hans cockiness by being even more charming and flirting, putting Han a bit in the background as he then gets frozen, making him getting drag away a much more powerful scene, because he got a bit down to earth by his loving relation to Chewbacca and Lando taking some of the heat. They have nearly as much screentime, but their act are clearly supporting.
Best cast - the whole cast being awarded for an ensemble
Best soundtrack selection - for non-original music
Best debut role
Best voice actor
Best film debut /Best film by a young person (I know Cannes does somethig like this)
It would probably have to swing into what MTV has done. But it could be presented in a less slap-stick way. Stuff like-
Best Scene
Best Character Relationship
Best Cry Moment
Best Scary Moment
Best Funny Moment
or it could get more technical with specific awards for stuff like-
Pacing, Lighting, Time-Period Accuracy, and two I'd especially like because they'd push creators to change stuff up more- "Dramatic Innovation" and "Technical Innovation"
Awards categories:
Best tone (I.e. for a film that just doesn't put a foot wrong);
Best performances by an actor in two different films in the same year (e.g. Tom Hanks for Captain Phillips and Saving Mr Banks);
Most popular film (it's about time Bond and Star Wars got some awards);
Best moment (like when the children find each other again in The Impossible);
Most imaginative casting of Sean Bean.
Split the main awards into 2 categories.
Major Release (over a certain budget) and an Independent Release (under a certain budget)
Best Motion Picture
Best Director
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Supporting Performance (male or female)
The 'Best Ensemble Cast' award should also extend to film. Without it, all the outstanding performances in a film like The Departed go unrecognised.
Best emotional experience
Best popcorn movie (i.e. you know what your going to get - a couple hours of escapism)
Best stand out performance
Most re-watchable film
Life changing experience Award
Best explosion
Best fight scene
Best car chase
Best facial expression
Best performance by a background extra
Best conversation
Best hairdesign
Best foreign language subtitles
+BilboB lol best performance by a background extra, the perfect way to kick start your acting career, maybe someone could also just be known for playing an extra and win the award like ten times.
pathofoblivion :)
Best headache inducing score
Best voice-off work and Performing in animated movies, ¡that would be intersting!
Best Trailer
Best Stunt Work
Best Perfomance (Voice only)
Best Title Sequence
Best Dog (they got one on cannes....seriusly look it up)
I think it should be like the Ballon d'Or (which I think is a bit of a farce in itself)- but that format. Begins with multiple nominations, whittled down to three.
Only one film wins, and everybody who worked on that film gets a damn Oscar to take home. Makeup, sfx, everybody. It would mean a hell of a lot more if it was only one film, and possibly alter the way these types of films are made for the better.
Promoting the collective effort rather than the individual, which, ironically, is the exact opposite of the Ballon d'Or.
Failing that:
Best Film (all genres)
Best Actor (any role)
Best Score
Best Cinematography
Best Director
They need a category for practical effects and stunt work
Films set in space, Best science in a film, Best accent in a film, Biggest Twist ending in film, Best ironic film set in Canada :) new categories would actually get me interested in awards again.
Most Entertaining film
Most thought - provoking film
Best independent film
Best studio film
Best Performance (Including both actors and actresses)
Best supporting performance
maybe not have all of these categories at all awards ceremonies but I think it needs to be acknowledged that film is far more diverse than the award nominations list suggests. where are the nominations for films such as Tangerine and A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night if not just at festivals? it is hard to define that the winner of Best Film is superior to any of these films. Also, I think there will be a time when it is simply best performance when all performances male or female are acknowledged as equal contenders at awards ceremonies.
Best Title Sequence
Best Action Sequence
Best Directing Debut
2nd Place Best Picture (Grand Prix)
3rd Place Best Picture (Jury Prize)
Best first 20 minutes of film.
Fantastic idea and point!!!
Until movies like The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Matrix, The Dark Knight and many others over the years start to be recognized for their greatness there needs to be a separate category for Best film or the people voting need to re-examine the criteria for which they vote for best film. A majority of the film audience will agree that the year those movies came out they were either their favorite film of the year or in their top 5.
'Actor closest to Alan Rickman in brilliance.'
Loving the Bane jacket Mark...
I like the idea of merging actor/actress and lead/supporting. Perhaps they should just be replaced with 4-5 identical rewards just for great performances. Like a Michelin star they are given out for exceptional performances. Maybe don't even set a limit on it, if it's a rubbish year hand out 1 or 2, if it's a great one hand out loads. It would remove the politics of competition.
+Jamie Chaplin In the current social/political climate if they merged leading actor/actress a man would never win the award again.
Frankly I think the current awards format is perfectly fine, although Kermode is right to point out having The Martian in 'comedy' is pretty ridiculous.
+scotty686
"In the current social/political climate if they merged leading actor/actress a man would never win the award again."
HAHAHAHA please tell me this is a typo?
+R. Ringshifter No, though I'll confess it's not the best syntax I've ever used.
1. Best Ensemble - I'm not sure why The Oscars or the Golden Globes do not have this. I'm not quite sure if they ever did (please let me know). But I feel that it would give actors with more minor or overlooked roles recognition.
2. Best Voice or Motion Capture actor - a bit annoying of a category, but there are too many skilled actors who preform these roles and overlooked every year.
3. Best Independent film - some award ceremonies have taken advantage of this type of category. Such as not nominating some independent features in favor of naming them as best picture. But it would give recognition to smaller films.
Best Debut Director - a common category that would allow many viewers of The Oscars to see the future creative minds in cinema.
Best Producer - a category that Wienstien could easily linchpin his way into each year. However sometimes a producer develops more than one film a year and should be recognized for their effort overall rather than on one picture.
I think there should be a category for two minute long films that were only nominated for another competition.
I actually think saying the Martian is a comedy is fine. I get it has dramatic elements, but a huge proportion of the characters are comedic characters... Mark Watney, the head of NASA, Richard Parnell, the head of JPL, a couple of the guys on the spaceship. I think it has so many comedic elements that it's fine calling it a comedy.
Not sure about categories. Maybe we could have like:
Best Film
Best Actor (over 20 minutes)
Best Actress (over 20 minutes)
Best Actor (20 mins or less)
Best Actress (20 mins or less
It's kind of hard with just five lol...
I don't think we are ready, as a society, to move away from nominating women and men in different categories. I just think in the current climate, women would unfortunately hardly ever win (regardless of whether they deserved to or not).
I agree with almost everything you said except for Idris Elba. He was fantastic in BONN but Abraham Attah completely owned that movie in my opinion. It's like Heath Ledger in TDK. He commanded the screen but this doesn't mean he should've recieved a leading actor nomination.
1. Best Actor (male or female) costing more than 10 million
2. Best Actor (male or female) costing less than 10 million
3. Most expensive special effects film
4. Best new (novel) screenplay
and for the fifth either:
Most innovative fourth film of a quadrilogy
or
Best remake of an earlier film
Best single performance of the year, regardless if male or female, including motion capture and puppetry (remember Frank Oz's sensational work as Yoda in "The Empire Strikes Back"?).
Best stunts / stunt performer.
Best crew (union and non-union).
Best movie done with a miserable budget.
Most advanced storytelling in a mainstream motion picture (rather heady, I know, but it can be tried for a couple of years).
Inside out getting snubbed everywhere is where I'm most confused.
+Blaize Don't worry it will win the Oscar. The noms were announced today
HeyTray1 yeah but wasn't even nominated for Best Picture. Which is insane
Thomas Cradden Because it's one of the best films if not the best of the year, animated or otherwise
***** and?
I got one, i'll think of more later…….
Best performance by a child actor or actress in a motion picture
So Happy about the oscars (except how The Hateful Eight got snubbed for EVERYTHING)
The oscars used to say "And the winner is...", but that means the other are losers, and Hollywood does not have losers, so now they say "And the Oscar goes to....". I don't know what year it was changed but that's true.
I'm confused about the Animated Feature film category to be honest. Wallace and Gromit is the only winner of the award to be made on film. And then there is Film Editing, which hasn't been appropriately titled since Michael Kahn last won
-Biggest "on-set meltdown"
Best Picture
Best Actor/Actress (expanded like the Oscars best picture where it can have between 6-10 nominations)
Best Director
Best Supporting Actor/Actress (expanded like the Oscars best picture where it can have between 6-10 nominations, must have less than 3/4 the screen time as lead)
Also no actor/actress allowed to be nominated twice in the same year, if done 2 or more great performances option to share nomination so only counts as 1
I keep telling myself every year that the awards are stupid but this year takes the cake. The Oscar nominations are a complete joke, but at least it will make the Kermode Awards interesting.
My question is this: Why can't Cate Blanchett and Roony Mara both be up for Best Actress in a Leading Role? Look at F. Murray Abraham and Tom Hulce who went head to head in Amadeus or Gena Davis and Susan Sarandon in Thelma and Louise. I think it's great when you get a battle of the Leading Actors.
Amen, Mark. Amen!
My 5 new categories would be:
1. Best Character of the Year (not necessarily in acting, but also in character, design, uniqueness and so on)
2. Best Soundtrack (in addition to best original score)
3. Best Film with low budget/production-value
4. Best Visually Appealing Film (prettiest movie)
5. Most Innovative Film of the year
+Dan Hakimov Prettiest movie of the year is a great title but who on the film would be responsible if it won? Sometimes the director, sometimes the make up artist, sometimes the lighting designer, sometimes the lead actress. Makes it sound even better.
Perhaps a best pretty performance to go with it - Matt Damon would win this year.
And best ugly film, best ugly performance to balance the pretty ones.
Best Digital Cinematography/Cinematography design. When you see Gravity and Life of Pi winning cinematography awards and the only person on stage is the cinematographer. That is just wrong. They did not shoot those scenes in Life of Pi, they shot a guy in a swimmimg pool. They designed the look in association with effects teams (That they then push to bankruptcy) and the effects teams builds it practically from scratch.
That signed almodovar poster
Best vocal and/or motion capture performance?
My (slightly more serious) new film award category ideas:
Best Art Film
Best Use of 3D
Best Young Actor/Actress
Best Casting
Best Interior/On Location Cinematography
I like the idea of awards that push things the right way.
+Kick's Mix Gaming Best Young Actor/Actress has been done before as Juvenile Academy Award, actually.
+So Jin Choi Yes, it would be nice to see it permanently there so that great performances at a young age can be acknowledged and to encourage new talent in the difficult early part of the career.
just follow the smash hits award template
The following nominations are awards I would to see introduced at the Oscars.
Because there are so many franchises how about
Best Blockbuster/Sequel/Prequel
Best Adapted Score
and how about bringing back the Best Newcomer at the Oscars - with one male award and one female award
Best Credited Cameo
Best Debut Director
Best Scene in a Motion Picture
Best Individual Music Composition
Best Trailer
Best On Screen Chemistry
Best Performance in a critically average/bad film
Best Comedy/Musical
Best FemalePerformance in any role ( replacing the current two awards)
Best Male Acting Performance in any role. ( replacing the current two awards)
Most Consistent Actor of the year
Most Consistent Actor of the year
Best Ensemble Cast
Best Voice Actor in an animated motion picture
Best Voice Actress in an animated motion picture
Best Voice Cast Ensemble
and I know Kermode will hate for this but I would also give one for :
Best 3D usage in a motion picture.
+Stephen Taylor The following nominations are awards I would to see introduced at the Oscars.
Because there are so many franchises how about
Best Blockbuster/Sequel/Prequel
Best Adapted Score
and how about bringing back the Best Newcomer at the Oscars - with one male award and one female award
Best Credited Cameo
Best Debut Director
Best Scene in a Motion Picture
Best Individual Music Composition
Best Trailer
Best On Screen Chemistry
Best Performance in a critically average/bad film
Best Comedy/Musical
Best Female Performance in any role ( replacing the current two awards)
Best Male Acting Performance in any role. ( replacing the current two awards)
Most Consistent Actor of the year
Most Consistent Actress of the year
Most improved Actress of the year
Most improved Actor of the year
Best Ensemble Cast
Best Voice Performance by a Male in an Animated Motion Picture
Best Voice Performance by a Female in an Animated Motion Picture
Best Voice Cast Ensemble in an Animated Motion Picture
and I know Kermode will hate for me for this but I would also give one for :
Best 3D usage in a motion picture.
I'd suggest getting rid of judging acting performances by gender and replacing with categories that reflect the different types of performances that contemporary film-making demands, such as Best Voice Performance in animated films, or Best Motion-Capture Performance. You might also consider separate awards for Best Portrayal of a Real Person and Best Portrayal of a Fictional Character, since these distinctions can place differing demands on the actor. Best Performance Against Type would be interesting too.
Best Duo Performance by Actors. (Gender doesn't matter). For people who are pretty much both leads and share a similar amount of screen time.
Maybe have some depedancy on screen time. Best Actor/Actress are the Actor/Actress with the most screentime, or who appear greater than say 1/3 of the films length.
Ithink the word "best"needs to go. Subjective is Subjective, it doesn't matter how you want to word it but the word "favourite" can make people more comfortable. With that, acting should be condensed.
The five additional categories are:
-Favourite Film
-Favourite Male Performance
-Favourite Female Performance
-Favourable Direction
-Favourite Screenplay
Let's not forget that these are the Golden Globes which are seen as a bit of a joke! No one really takes them any seriously. Ricky Gervais lays in to the Hollywood foreign press every time he hosts and they've invited him back 4 times, supposedly a 5th. So it says a lot about what people think of the globes. There's no real problem with the academy's categories or any other big awards shows.
Best Acting Person
Second Best Acting Person
Third Best Acting Person
;)
Best beard.
Best American accent by British actor.
this is nothing new. 2 years ago daniel bruhl was put into best supporting actor for niki lauda even though he was the joint lead
Interestingly I laughed more than 6 times in the martian. That does not define it as a comedy, but under Kermode's rules it makes it a good comedy if it was defined as such.
My catorgories would replace best actor/actress and supporting as I agree, it's hard to distinguish.
Best Male performance
Best Female performance
Best Young male performance
Best Young female performance (-20)
Best Action film (as this genre is exciting yet not always the best narrative wise or acted)
Some films just have a range and aren't easily categorized is all. The Martian had some great comedy bits, more so than other films this year. Not to mention the soundtrack being the punchline to some bits, true not a musical. I'm fine with the awards given though.
Best Make & female Physical performance
for roles perhaps not featuring much spoken word such as leo in the revenant or Tom hardy in madmax.
Or really rather than have many catergories have fewer for acting awards and instead praise actors for standout and notable performances than one individual. So that all nominees are then award winners and just a male and female standout performance award.