The Film Experience

by Nathaniel R

The Academy announced some a few rule changes today. You no longer have to have only one composer to be eligible for Original Score, and producing partnerships will be considered a single entity now -- meaning more people could be nominated for producing Best Picture nominees. But the two big changes are about the Documentary and Animated Feature races and one of those changes we applaud and the other makes us want to riot to protect a beloved artform...

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE CHANGE. The Good One
Though no one but a few of us loudmouths at TFE seemed to mind that a TV mini-series produced by a TV station (ESPN) for airing in multiple installments was allowed to compete as a feature AND WON last Oscar season (O.J. Simpson: Made in America) apparently we weren't as alone as we thought. Enough people in the Academy must have complained for there to be a quick rule change. Now even if you four-wall a movie theater to make your project "theatrical," it will still be ineligible if its made to be shown in installments. So, for instance, Five Came Back (which just debuted on Netflix) will not be eligible after all. Obviously this will probably result in appeals in various cases and the Documentary Branch executives will have to decide on individual situations but that's as it should have been originally. We have nothing against TV (contrary to popular belief) but think there's no point in pretending that TV shows are movies or vice versa since both TV shows and movies have their own golden statues! Why should you be able to win both an Emmy and an Oscar for the same film?

will new animated rules spell doom for production companies like Cartoon Saloon who specialize in high quality animation that doesn't fit the traditional American modes?

ANIMATED FEATURE CHANGE. The Bad One
Though every branch has previously determined its own nominations (except for the foreign film award, which doesn't have a "branch" but committees and best picture which all members vote on) the Animated Feature nomination process will now be open to any AMPAS member to vote. The Academy says:

Invitations to join the nominating committee will be sent to all active Academy members, rather than a select craft-based group,” the Academy said. “Voting in the nominations round will now be preferential instead of based on a numerical scoring system.

This change could strike a severe blow to the wonderful diversity of the category we've been getting for years with nominations from Switzerland, Japan, France, and Ireland mixed in with the the only kind of animated picture made in America: CG Adventure Comedies/Musicals. Though surely not every Academy member will be jumping to join the now open committee, this will likely mean that a great many non-animators with studio connections will now be voting. So expect Cars 3 and Despicable Me 3 (and such) to have a leg up on this year's Red Turtles and My Life as a Courgettes (whatever films those turn out to be).

This is altogether tragic news for those of us who believe that animation is not a genre but a medium. American studios consider animation a genre (yes, even the ones who complain that it's treated as such like various filmmakers at Pixar --please note that Pixar has never made anything but one genre: adventure comedy family pictures). This category, for all its flaws, had proven to be a tremendous profile-raising opportunity for worthy films made without deep studio pockets. That will probably no longer be the case. Losing amazing Oscar nominees like Song of the Sea or gorgeous traditionally drawn features like Princess Kaguya in the future is just too depressing to contemplate. Off we go to cry buckets of tears.

We hope that our fears are unfounded but since we don't think they will be, one last round of applause to all of these past Oscar nominees, most of which probably wouldn't have had a chance had they been released this year or in future years (unless they change the rules back)...