OSCAR... AND THE AWARD GOES TO ....
Since the first award from 1929, oscar has gone a long way and today it is regarded as the most prestegious award in the motion film industry. Aall it began in early 1927, during dinner at the home of M-G-M's studio chief Louis B. Mayer, Mayer and three of his guests – actor Conrad Nagel, director Fred Niblo and producer Fred Beetson – began talking about creating an organized group to benefit the entire film industry. They planned another dinner for the following week, with invitees from all the creative branches of the film industry.On May 11, 1927, a week after the state granted the Academy a charter as a non-profit organization, an official organizational banquet was held at the Biltmore Hotel. Of the 300 guests, 230 joined the Academy, paying $100 each. That night, the Academy also awarded its first honorary membership, to Thomas Edison. Initially five branches were established: producers, actors, directors, writers and technicians.The Academy rented a suite of offices at 6912 Hollywood Boulevard as temporary headquarters for the first few months. In November 1927, headquarters moved to office space on the mezzanine level of the Roosevelt Hotel at 7010 Hollywood Boulevard. In June 1930, the Academy rented a suite of offices at 7046 Hollywood Boulevard to give more space for the increased staff of four executives, three assistants and six clerks. The Academy's operations remained at that location until 1935, when the accounting and executive offices moved to the Taft Building on the corner of Hollywood and Vine, and the library was relocated to 1455 North Gordon Street.
The Academy then started to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers. The Oscar statuette is officially named the Academy Award of Merit and is one of nine types of Academy Awards. Now, the most recognized trophy in the world, the Oscar statuette has stood on the mantels of the greatest filmmakers in history since 1929.
Oscar stands 13½ inches tall and weighs in at a robust 8½ pounds. The film reel features five spokes, signifying the five original branches of the Academy: actors, directors, producers, technicians and writers. Although the statuette remains true to its original design, the size of the base varied until 1945, when the current standard was adopted.
Below are some Oscar Statuette Facts
Official Name: Academy Award® of Merit
Height: 13½ inches
Weight: 8½ pounds
Number of Awards Presented: 2,809
First Recipient: Emil Jannings, named Best Actor for his performances in “The Last Command” and “The Way of All Flesh” in 1929
Design: A knight holding a crusader’s sword, standing on a reel of film. The film reel features five spokes, signifying the five original branches of the Academy (actors, directors, producers, technicians and writers).
Designer: Cedric Gibbons, chief art director at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Sculptor: Los Angeles artist George Stanley
Manufacturer: R. S. Owens & Company in Chicago
Manufacturing Time: 3–4 weeks for 50 statuettes
The first Academy Awards ceremony was held on May 16, 1929, at the Hotel Roosevelt in Hollywood to honor the outstanding film achievements of the 1927/1928 film season. The 84th Academy Awards, honoring films in 2011, was held at the Hollywood and Highland Center on February 26, 2012.
Historically, the "Oscarcast" has pulled in a bigger haul when box-office hits are favored to win the Best Picture trophy. More than 57.25 million viewers tuned to the telecast for the 70th Academy Awards in 1998, the year of Titanic, which generated close to US$600 million at the North American box office pre-Oscars.The 76th Academy Awards ceremony in which The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (pre-telecast box office earnings of US$368 million) received 11 Awards including Best Picture drew 43.56 million viewers.The most watched ceremony based on Nielsen ratingsto date, however, was the 42nd Academy Awards (Best Picture Midnight Cowboy) which drew a 43.4% household rating on April 7, 1970.
By contrast, ceremonies honoring films that have not performed well at the box office tend to show weaker ratings. The 78th Academy Awards which awarded low-budgeted, independent film Crash (with a pre-Oscar gross of US$53.4 million) generated an audience of 38.64 million with a household rating of 22.91%.In 2008, the 80th Academy Awards telecast was watched by 31.76 million viewers on average with an 18.66% household rating, the lowest rated and least watched ceremony to date, in spite of celebrating 80 years of the Academy Awards.[48] The Best Picture winner of that particular ceremony was another low-budget, independently financed film (No Country for Old Men).
Belwo mentioned are the Current "OSCAR "awards
1.Best Actor in a Leading Role: since 1928
2.Best Actor in a Supporting Role: since 1936
3.Best Actress in a Leading Role: since 1928
4.est Actress in a Supporting Role: since 1936
5.Best Animated Film: since 2001
6.Best Animated Short Film: since 1931
7.Best Art Direction: since 1928
8.Best Cinematography: since 1928
9.Best Costume Design: since 1948
10.Best Director: since 1928
11.Best Documentary Feature: since 1943
12.Best Documentary Short: since 1941
13.Best Film Editing: since 1935
14.Best Foreign Language Film: since 1947
15.Best Live Action Short Film: since 1931
16.Best Makeup: since 1981
17.Best Original Score: since 1934
18.Best Original Song: since 1934
19.Best Picture: since 1928
20.Best Sound Editing: since 1963
21.Best Sound Mixing: since 1930
22.Best Visual Effects: since 1939
23.Best Adapted Screenplay: since 1928
24.Best Original Screenplay: since 1940
Apart from these, there are special awards such as Academy Honorary Award,Academy Scientific and Technical Award,Gordon E. Sawyer Award,Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award.
Oscar has many criticisms as well in its credit. Unfortunately, the critical worth, artistic vision, cultural influence, and innovative qualities of many films are not given the same voting weight. Especially since the 1980s, moneymaking "formula-made" blockbusters with glossy production values have often been crowd-pleasing titans (and Best Picture winners), but they haven't necessarily been great films with depth or critical acclaim by any measure
Oscar academy has continued growth ever since 1929. Now, the academy is looks after different sectiions of motion idustry with sceientific approcah. Academy is condcting a special program called "Media Literacy Program". Twice a year nearly 800 Los Angeles Unified School District high school juniors visit the Academy to participate in the Media Literacy Program. The three-day event includes group discussions, film clip analyses, a feature film screening and filmmaker visits.
The program, in partnership with Los Angeles Educational Partnership’s Humanitas, is designed to help students become aware of media messages encountered daily, improve analytical skills to evaluate those messages, and encourage provocative and thoughtful interaction with the media.
Over the years, the Academy has honored many international filmmakers. The telecast, seen by a global audience of hundreds of millions of viewers, has taken on many international elements. And, of course, there is the Best Foreign Language Film category. Since 1956, this category has honored excellence, and – perhaps more importantly – made audiences aware of the visionary films and filmmakers of other countries, whether close by or far away.
Take a journey through Academy Award history and around the globe with videos, rare photos and more featuring the honorees, films and extraordinary artwork that has made Oscar such a distinguished world traveler.
Check "The weepiest Oscar Acceptance speeches "
http://news.moviefone.com/2012/02/20/academy-awards-upsets-oscars_n_1288693.htmlRead and view the OSCAR LEGACY here
http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/legacy/index.htmlhttp://www.britannica.com/oscar/browse?browseId=256529
Courtesy & References - Wikipedia (History of the Academy)
- www.oscar.go.com
- Wikipedia books for Academy Awards and
collections of articles
- "About the Academy Awards". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original
