Oscar Style: Henry Hobson & Those Gorgeous Graphic Sequences

Manuel here to talk about the gorgeous designs we saw last night. The Oscar telecast was, as usual, a very pretty affair. Humor may be subjective (a pun can both garner a laugh and an eye roll) and winners can be fought over (oh those Birdman takedowns aren't gonna get any less nasty now are they?) but the show will always provide the eye candy. And I'm not just talking about the gorgeous dresses, the preened faces and the sculpted male torso that walked the stage. I'm here to talk about the beautiful title cards that were featured throughout the night. 

Combining Tumblr-ized minimalism and Instagram's cataloguing style, Henry Hobson and the Elastic Design created some beautifully stylized graphic sequences for last night's awards:

I particularly loved the (ever so brief! -- guess they wanted to keep these sequences short and sweet?) Best Picture montage:

Best Picture Oscar Nomination Title Sequence - 2015 from henry hobson directing & design on Vimeo.

If there's one objection to make about all these pretty pictures is that they seemed designed to deny us of the power of those moving pictures we were supposed to be honoring (or, in the case of the In Memoriam tribute, of the work which Meryl reminded us, would live on). 

Were you taken with the designs? Or did you wish we could have gotten full clips of some of these nominees, especially as the telecast was unusually reticent to show clips of any kind?

Lady Gaga Isn't the Only One Who Loves "The Sound of Music"

Be here a week from tomorrow for the season premiere of Hit Me With Your Best Shot when we look at the classic Julie Andrews... or, rather, the classic Julie Andrews in between her other classics. the one where she spins on a mountain top (though hopefully not everyone picks that opening scene)

If you've never played before it's easy. You 1) post your favorite shot from the movie somewhere. 2) Say why you chose it. 3) We link up. Here's the March schedule for the series every Tuesday night!

And dont forget to "like" TFE on facebook and sign up for our weekly newsletter which will start next week. Don't vanish post-Oscar because we do this all year round: lovin on the actresses, investigating the directors, and having fun with cinephilia.

After the jump excerpts from Lady Gaga's performance and fun tweets about it.

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The 87th Academy Awards. Live Blog

08:29 3...2...1...

08:36 We began with a big musical number "Moving Pictures" with Neil Patrick Harris, Anna Kendrick, and Jack Black. Some of the audience likes it more than others.Keira Knightley and her date look at each other and laugh. Some of the opening monologue is funny... but why do jokes about Oprah always come across so awkward. David Letterman 'you got your Oprah in our Uma Thurman!' and now NPH equates Oprah with American Sniper. "cuz you're rich" 

08:46 BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR GOES TO J.K. SIMMONS 
He never mentions the movie or anything. Puzzling. Just talks about his wife and "above average kids" - people still laugh at that line despite the sweeping of the precursors and that he's used it each time. Tells us to call our parents. My mom would not believe it if I called during the Oscars. She'd think someone died.

Neil Patrick Harris tries to make us believe he's an Oscar nerd with an elaborate bit which IS NOT A BIT about his predictions locked up on stage. He puts Octavia Spencer in charge of watching them. 

08:48 Clips from Grand Budapest Hotel and American Sniper the double feature you never knew you wanted introduced by the star you never knew would introduce them Liam Neeson

08:50 Dakota Johnson introduces Adam Levine singing "Lost Stars" 

ALL THE REST AFTER THE JUMP

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Oscar Night. Arrivals

Hollywood's High Holy Night has arrived!

Ms Musical. Anna Kendrick looks amazing tonight.

06:05 It's only once every 365 days and that's soooo long to wait. As I turn the TV on it appears that Ryan Seacrest is stalking Josh Hutcherson trying to find out where he stays when he vacations. Hutcherson will only reveal that he likes Madrid.

06:10 Common calls Oscars "the mountain top" of awards shows. Which is very obviously true but do you think the Grammys feelings are hurt since Common's a musician?

06:15 Reese Witherspoon is sharing texts from her mom on Instagram which will make you love the Witherspoon(s) even more

06:16 will.i.am says he goes to the movies every Friday and Saturday religiously and Selma is his favorite. 

Rosamund Pike terrors and Dakota Johnson lies after the jump

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Black History Month: "Schwarzfahrer," an Oscar Night Memoir

For this Oscar day special episode of Black History Month, we asked devoted reader Paul Outlaw, who you'll know from the comments, to share his Oscar memoir from the 1993/1994 ceremony. We're happy to call Paul a friend after our last few trips to Los Angeles. He starred in a German short film that won the Oscar years ago.

An elderly German woman (Senta Moira) and a black youth (yours truly) sit side-by-side on a Berlin streetcar in Schwarzfahrer, a twelve-minute 35mm film that premiered at the Berlinale 22 years ago this week. The film’s title is a play on words: a “Schwarzfahrer” is slang for “fare dodger” as the film was called in the UK , but if you break the German compound word into its components, it translates as “Black Rider” (the US title).

“Schwarzfahrer is a trenchant and stylistically assured work which makes the best use of all possibilities open to the short film. The film deals with a topical subject in a very humorous and extremely entertaining manner. The jury only wishes that German feature films would portray burning social issues and events with a similar lightness of touch and craftsmanship.

- Jury statement at the awarding of the first Panorama Prize of the New York Film Academy, 43rd International Film Festival, Berlin, Germany, 1993

When the short premiered I was an expatriate living in Berlin. After the film’s extremely positive reception – we were promptly invited to Cannes – I got the idea in my head that Schwarzfahrer could one day win an Academy Award.

Our journey to Oscar after the jump...

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