The Rundown: Cinematography

Today’s Rundown article takes a look at the Best Cinematography award, one of the few tech categories where name recognition is a big deal.

Cinematography

Black Swan
Inception (O)
The King’s Speech
The Social Network
True Grit (O) (O) (Ja)

Runners-Up

Inception (H) (H) (H)
True Grit (Ja)

KEY:

Appears on Four Lists
Appears on Three Lists
Appears on Two Lists

Wesley Lovell Peter Patrick Tripp Burton Wes Huizar

(New) = New Prediction
(O) = Original Prediction
(H) = Post-Hangover Prediction

Wesley Lovell: For a long time, from the 80s well into the 90s, the Academy was a huge fan of outdoor extravaganzas. They figured shooting exterior scenes was more impressive than interiors. It’s why you have winners like A River Runs Through It and Legends of the Fall. And when they weren’t going for the gorgeous exterior shots, they were playing Best Picture cheering squad. In the last decade, however, they have moved heavily indoors with winners like Road to Perdition and Pan’s Labyrinth, films that had great exteriors, but more prominent interiors.

And more strikingly, Perdition is probably the greatest example of how name recognition can propel a contender to the forefront. Conrad L. Hall picked up third statuette posthumously for Road to Perdition. Roger Deakins, arguably one of the most prominent cinematographers working today, has nine Oscar nominations to date and not a single award. This is his to lose. And while the ASC went for Inception’s Wally Pfister, it takes place largely indoors whereas True Grit takes place outside. And since there will be very few places for Oscar voters to check off True Grit on their ballots, I think this is the category it’s most likely to triumph in. They’ll kill two birds with one stone: reward Deakins and reward True Grit.

Peter J. Patrick: Will they go for busy or traditional? Inception or True Grit? I toss a coin and come up with Inception, but it could be either.

Tripp Burton: Inception won the guild’s award this weekend, but the ASC is actually one of the least reliable guilds when it comes to the Oscars. True Grit, on the other hand, is not only a great-looking film, but could also bring long-overlooked Roger Deakins his first Oscar on his ninth nomination.