AAN: Oscar Predictions: Sound and Design

Welcome to part one of my official Oscar predictions, which is what this season of Annual Awards Nerdism has boiled down to. In the five nights leading up to the Oscars, I will break down each of the categories with my predictions (and there'll be some poetry down the line). Tonight, I will be dealing with the sound (Best Achievement in Sound Editing, Best Achievement in Sound Mixing, Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures - Original Song, Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures - Original Score) and design awards (Best Achievement in Art Direction, Best Achievement in Make-Up, Best Achievement in Costume Design).

As per usual, I will be using Sparkling Silva, 'Overjoyed' David and Loopy Looper to help me make my predictions. Here's what they code for:
Sparkling Silva - Who I'd be happy to see win.
'Overjoyed' David - My official prediction - who is likely to win.
Loopy Looper - The long shot.

Sound Awards.

Best Achievement in Sound Editing

Argo / Django Unchained / Life of Pi / Skyfall / Zero Dark Thirty

I could offer up something really smart here but I know literally zilch about sound editing. Django Unchained, Skyfall and Zero Dark Thirty were all pretty intense in the sound. I guess Zero Dark Thirty had a lot of sound to deal with, especially in the final scenes. And the 'zero' part of the title pretty much goes with my knowledge of this topic.

Best Achievement in Sound Mixing

Argo / Les Miserables / Life of Pi / Lincoln / Skyfall

Les Miserables should definitely win this one. Example? That first scene. How the hell you live sing through that with five billion litres of water washing over you is beyond me. I mean, I can't even get good sound recordings through my laptop, so...

Best Achievement in Music Written for the Motion Pictures - Original Song

'Before My Time' - Chasing Ice / 'Suddenly' - Les Miserables / 'Pi's Lullaby' - Life of Pi / 'Skyfall' - Skyfall / 'Everybody Needs a Best Friend' - Ted

How Ted managed to get an Oscar nomination but The Dark Knight Rises couldn't even scrape up a sound nomination is insane. Anyway, I sure as hell hope that that movie doesn't get any more credit than it needs. I'm all for Skyfall with this one. Mainly because it is one of my "cute sing along songs in the shower". Les Miserables could be a possible spoiler though, since people are all for old musicals getting a new song.

Best Achievement in Music Written for the Motion Pictures - Original Score

Anna Karenina / Argo / Life of Pi / Lincoln / Skyfall

I've only heard one of these scores - the one for Skyfall - and I really liked the vibe going through that one, and it has the BAFTA under its belt. However, it would be nice to see either Alexandre Desplat (Argo), Mychael Danna (Life of Pi) - who has the Golden Globe - or Thomas Newman (Skyfall) win their first Oscar. Let's just not give John Williams (Lincoln) another one.

Design Awards.

Best Achievement in Production Design

Anna Karenina / The Hobbit / Les Miserables / Life of Pi / Lincoln

I really can't wait for The Hobbit not to win this, or not to win anything. Because that's all that NZ news shows will harp on about. I can just see them doing their coverage, and it all being about The Hobbit's measely nominations. Seriously, no one cares. Anna Karenina will almost definitely win, with a possible spoiler coming from Les Miserables. Then again, a win from The Hobbit would be nice because we wouldn't have to listen to New Zealanders pretending they know stuff about movies.

Best Achievement in Costume Design

Anna Karenina / Les Miserables / Lincoln / Mirror Mirror / Snow White and the Huntsman

I really hope that Mirror Mirror wins this one. The costumes are so amazingly done, they're true works of art in their own right. Hopefully they go for it, but I think Anna Karenina a pretty good chance, considering the scale of costuming that needed to go on there. It is a pretty tough race, but I think the period films Les Miserables and Lincoln, which have to deal with large casts with all sorts of clothing, will come out behind since they don't really have the same, I don't know, creativity as the other three.

Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling

Hitchcock / The Hobbit / Les Miserables

Wait...The Hobbit may have a chance here. Wow, that would just make NZ news people go crazy. It is probably a clear winner, even though Les Miserables has a lot of different hairstyling and brown mud going on. I should know, I'm a former Les Mis makeup artist ;)

What do you think will win these awards? I'll be back tomorrow with the 'bests' (animated, doco, foreign) and the 'visuals' (cinematography, editing, effects). See ya then!