Oscar Volleys: Best Film Editing might be a nailbiter this year

Team Experience is discussing each Oscar category in the lead up to the ceremony.  Here's Ben Miller and Eurocheese to talk Best Editing

Ben Miller: Well Eurocheese, we're back again.  Pre-nominations, Nick Taylor and I talked about Best Editing being more of an alternative Best Picture lineup.  Low-and-behold, all five Editing nominees are also up for Best Picture. Before we get to talking about the actual nominees, let's pour one out for films that should have gotten a notice in this category.   Personally, I thought the editing in All Quiet on the Western Front was pretty spectacular.  When it comes to coherent action sequences, my main gripe is a sense of place and atmosphere.  For a while, any action or war film was edited with insanity and incoherence.  God bless George Miller because Mad Max: Fury Road showed a first-class way to convey clear, heart-pumping action without throwing you out of sorts.  All Quiet isn't renowned for its action sequences, but when it shows up, it is crystal clear about direction, orientation, and presence.  

What film did you personally want in the lineup, no matter how unrealistic?

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April Foolish Oscar Predix Pt 3 - Visual Categories

by Nathaniel R

Will ELVIS get the usual Catherine Martin nominations for a Bazmark production?

The April Foolish predictions continue with the visual categories which means the rest of the week is the highest profile of categories: Actors, Directors, and Pictures. Obviously this is too early for confidence -- especially in below the line categories since many films haven't released a single image yet. Much will change including which films get released but we'd hold up our year in advance prediction records against anyones.  At this point the only thing anyone has to go on is a) previous work from the craftsmen involved, b) whether the film might have a "Most" boost (contemporary set pictures generally struggle in the visual categories even when they're brilliant), c) hunches aka crystal ball projections as to how the film involved might fare overall. Regarding the latter, it's commonly understood that Best Picture heat will help you in every category even though each should be judged on its own merits.

Check out the charts, won'cha? Two items of discussion we wanted to underline follow after the jump...

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Interview: Peter Sciberras on editing four key scenes in 'The Power of the Dog'

by Nathaniel R

Peter Sciberras, the Oscar-nominated editor of The Power of the Dog

Final interview of the season! Editing is often called "the invisible art" but it's very visible. The audience just doesn't always know what they're looking at. Editors make a million choices in how we see, absorb, and feel the movies we love. I was thrilled to sit down with the editor Peter Siberras, who is Oscar nominated for his rich work on Jane Campion's Best Picture nominated future classic The Power of the Dog. As we started talking we shared stories about falling in love with editing.  Peter fell in love young when a housemate was making a music video and was having trouble finding an editor. "So, I gave it a shot one night at the age of 22," he recalls. "I instantly loved it. The second I did it I stopped thinking about any other career."

You can dip into everything you love about movies including cinematography, acting, and directing while you're editing, he explains. "Without doing all the hard work" he jokes. The editor's work is substantial after all. They essentially make the whole film over again after it's shot. Sciberra's big break came with David Michôd's thriller The Rover (2014) so he was already comfortable with dusty slow burn drama and building tension before Jane Campion came calling. For something a little different we focused on four specific beats in the film...

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Best Film Editing Oscar Volley

Team Experience is discussing the various Oscar categories. Here's a particularly volatile race given that BAFTA, CCA, and ACE Eddie Awards all chose different winners.

ERIC BLUME: Tim and Carlos, we're the lucky gang to discuss the Oscar nominees in the Best Film Editing category.  This year our five nominated films are: 

• Don't Look Up
• Dune
• King Richard
• The Power of the Dog
• tick, tick...Boom!

Last year's win for The Sound of Metal was uniquely exciting as it was an out-of-the-box winner in terms of its smallness (this award often goes to "big" movies). Maybe that means people are thinking a bit more carefully about this category?  I bring this up in hopes there might be some genuine support for my  favorite pick of this bunch, which is the editing duo for tick, tick...Boom...

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ADG & ACE winners spread the wealth

by Nathaniel R

The Art Directors Guild and the American Cinema Editors Guild announced their winners last night. The results indicate support for multiple films vying for Best Picture with Encanto (not a Best Picture nominee) the only film to win at both ceremonies last night. King Richard made news winning the Drama Editing prize over presumedly stronger Best Picture hopefuls like Dune and Power of the Dog but who knows what Oscar might choose. Statistically, believe it or not, this win is not necessarily a big plus in King Richard's column (other than to be recognized which if of course wonderful on its own!). AMPAS has a differnet voting body and they often choose differently in the editing category.  

Winners and commentary after the jump for both guilds after the jump...

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