The Academy of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences has revealed the four categories that it will have their winners announced during the commercial breaks of this year’s Academy Awards.
According to an email sent to Academy members earlier today, the quartet of categories getting shafted are cinematography, film editing, live action short and makeup and hairstyling. Edited highlights of the winners’ speeches will be shown during the telecast.
There’s no word yet as to how these four categories were the ones chosen to be awarded during the commercial breaks. For all we know they could have been chosen by drawing them out of a hat filled with the names of all twenty-four Oscar categories.
It had been previously reported that the cinematography category was going to be one of the ones not being awarded during the live telecast. At the time, we pointed out why that would be a mistake for a number of reasons, including the fact that this year saw two black and white films in contention.
The decision to move four categories to an off-the-live-air position during the ceremony was made last August and was subject to much criticism at the time.
And I am still criticizing that decision. The whole idea that the Oscars needs to be contained in a three-hour time slot is wrong-headed and insulting. The Oscars should be a celebration of movies. It is the biggest night of the year for the film industry and as such, should be open-ended. No one has ever tried to take the Super Bowl and force the game to wrap up in a certain amount of time. I really don’t understand why the Academy Awards should be so constrained. Let the people who worked hard and are being rewarded for that work have that moment to bask in the spotlight.
