The race for the highest honour is on, and has become interestingly complicated and competitive. With The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announcement of the nominations for the 2016 Oscars, The Revenant emerged ferocious just like its bear attack as it led the race with 12 nominations in varied categories. Also, the VFX stuffed Mad Max: Fury Road proved its power packed action with 10 nominations thus creating a tough road for other VFX giant films.
Out of 10 films in the Best Visual Effects category, five films have been nominated which has further narrowed and intensified the competition. The films include George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road which ventured into all forms of visual effects, right form prosthetics to explosive backgrounds, Alejandro González Ińárritu’s The Revenant starring Leonardo DiCaprio on a battle filed in the cold wilderness, Ridley Scott’s The Martian that created the phenomenal red planet, J. J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens which fabricated a space adventure beyond imagination and Alex Garland’s Ex Machina that brought alive a science fiction through artificial intelligence.
Well, in this category as far as extensive VFX is concerned, Mad Max: Fury Road stands which consists of 2000 visual effects shots where 90 per cent of the effects were practical, stands a hands down chance to bag the award.
While the Best Animated Feature category baffled everyone as the five nominations shortlisted out of the 16 features were remarkable in their own way. The nominees include Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson’s Anomalisa based on a traditional style and portrayed as the ‘most human film’, Disney Pixar and Pete Docter’s Inside Out which focuses on a unique concept of personification of various emotions, Aardman Animations, Richard Starzak and Mark Burton’s Shaun the Sheep Movie that used the stop motion clay animation technique to adventure with a flock of sheep, Ale Abreu’s Brazilian animated film Boy and the World which struck the emotional chord through the art of storytelling and Studio Ghibli and Hiromasa Yonebayashi’s When Marnie Was There which again is based on a hypothetical story brought to life by animation.
These films consist of varied animation techniques, intense story and great work in terms of animation style. The versatility is clearly displayed as the nominees involve a Disney Pixar style of animation of spell bound quality and also Studio Ghibli’s masterpiece that drives the audience with its neat eccentric art work. And, the script matters too as the Brazilian animated film is based on a story that triggers emotions quite effectively. So, it is evidently clear that box office revenues, ratings, popularity of the Studio or franchise and the budget invested in the film do not act as factors for the Oscars nominations.
Well, considering the uniqueness of concept, art of storytelling, effective communication and crisp style of animation, Inside Out stands a good chance to bag the award.
India found its place in the Best Animated Short Film category with Disney Pixar and Indian-American Sanjay Patel’s Sanjay’s Super Team being a part of the five nominees that were shortlisted out of the 10 shorts. The other nominations include Richard Williams’ Prologue which describes the Spartan-Athenian war through its creative art work, Gabriel Osorio’s Bear Story displaying a unique style of robotic animation, Konstantin Bronzit’s We Can’t Live without Cosmos that delivers a trip to the stars and Don Hertzfeldt’s World of Tomorrow that tells a scientific fictional tale.
The Indian mastermind has portrayed a unique story based on the Indian mythological characters through a young kids’ imagination in Sanjay’s Super Team. Moreover, this film opens the door of the culture of India to the world. And, as far as animation style is considered, this film can bag the award due to its neat detailing on character development and extensive colourful animation.
These Oscar nominees will further compete and the best one will bag the honour of the 88th Academy Awards on Sunday, 28 February, 2016 at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre. Let’s wait to see who deserves the Oscars!