READ THIS TOPIC BEFORE VOTING.

Hello there, ReelViews board members. My name's Pedro, and I'm here to announce the second annual ReelViews Academy Awards!

You'll have to pardon me: much of this post is going to be a regurgitation of last year's thread, with some slight changes.

Anyway, giving credit where credit is due, p604 came up with the idea. His thought process was, "Everyone complains about the Oscars. Why don't we have our own?" It's brilliant. Here's how it works:

1. Anyone (that's you!) can vote for nominees, so long as you're signed up on the board. Make sure your votes are for who YOU want to win. If you think Easy A's the best film of the year, then damn it vote that way!
2. People who do choose to vote need to suggest five nominees per category, ranked 1-5 with 1 being the theoretical winner. This applies to all categories INCLUDING Best Picture. If the films are not ranked, I will do so alphabetically and no one wants that.
3. You don't need to vote for every category, but I don't want to be the only person voting for Sound Mixing. Do your own research, yar?
4. There are twenty-one categories: nineteen that the Academy uses, the Best Ensemble award that SAG uses, and a modified Best Original Score. They are listed at the end of the post, accompanied by a sample ballot.
5. Many documentaries and foreign language films were excluded from the Academy shortlist of said categories. Same goes for make-up, score, and visual effects. IGNORE THIS. If the film came out domestically between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2010, it's valid for any category. FOR EXAMPLE: A Prophet (France) came out in February, so it's valid despite being released in 2009 in France. However, Of Gods and Men (France) is not because it comes out in February, despite its 2010 release date in France.
6. PM your votes to me, Pedro, to keep the nomination process secretive and exciting and shit.

The voting cut-off will be on February 18, 2011 at 11:59 PM PST. Hopefully that will be enough time to see everything of worth. If it's not, I have no problem extending the date.

I've decided to include some category suggestions in case people are confused. I've based their placements on the definition of Lead/Supporting, irrelevant of screen time. PM any other category confusions to me. If I decide you have committed category fraud, I will discard that vote.

Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) is 110%, one billion ways to Sunday, the lead actress of her film. DON'T PUT HER IN SUPPORTING.
Lesley Manville (Another Year) would be up for Best Supporting Actress. That movie is about Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen, potential Best Actor and Actress nominees.
Marion Cotillard (Inception), the subject of much category fraud last year, is up for Best Supporting Actress.
Dogtooth has three leads and all of them are the children. The father, mother, and Christina are supporting characters.
Another Year, Barney's Version, Biutiful, Blue Valentine, and The Way Back all came out in 2010 as qualifiers.
The King's Speech is an original screenplay and Toy Story 3 is an adapted screenplay.

Happy voting, fellow members! Don't be shy. If you haven't seen enough films from the year, don't worry about it! Vote on what you know. I want to see a bigger turnout this year!

Best Actor in a Leading Role
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Best Animated Feature
Best Art Direction
Best Cinematography
Best Costume Design
Best Director
Best Documentary Feature
Best Ensemble Cast
Best Film Editing
Best Foreign Language Film
Best Makeup
Best Picture
Best Sound Editing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdnrfkFywoc the creation of sound effects through various layers of manipulation)
Best Sound Mixing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rq6ZXnbbQUY bringing various sound elements together to make a convincing viewing experience)
Best Use of Music (to allow soundtracks and scores based on existing elements)
Best Visual Effects
Best Writing - Adapted Screenplay
Best Writing - Original Screenplay

SAMPLE BALLOT: BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
1. Colin Firth - The King's Speech
2. Tom Hanks - Toy Story 3
3. Shawn Ashmore - Frozen
4. Ewan McGregor - The Ghost Writer
5. Robert Downey, Jr. - Due Date

And finally, here's a list of foreign films that came out domestically in 2010:

A Prophet
The Chaser
The Secret in Their Eyes
Dogtooth
Home
White Material
Biutiful
Ajami
The Milk of Sorrow
Vincere
Mother
I Am Love
Heartbreaker
Alamar
Hadewijch
Samson and Delilah
Amer
Eccentricities of a Blond Hair Girl
Ne Change Rien
Secret Sunshine
Wild Grass
Carlos
Lourdes
Everyone Else
Mid-August Lunch
Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale
Last Train Home
Vengeance
Ip Man
The Millennium Trilogy

May I ask why we need to post five nominees as opposed to just our choice for the winner?

Because that's how the contest was thought up? A lot of people may not have seen five foreign language films or five documentaries, so choosing one isn't necessarily a bad thing. Choosing one just seems... I don't know, less fun? If three people think The Social Network is the best film of the year and three people think Dogtooth is the best film of the year, we have a tie. The Dogtooth people may have The Social Network at number three or four, though, thus giving The Social Network the edge. Does that make sense?

Once we have the nominees, we only vote for one from there.

And what if we are not able to come up with five? Could you choose the number of films you have for a category and the alphabetical picks of yours all come from our nominees as opposed to in general?

If you're not able to come up with five, it's no big deal. A number one vote is a number one vote. So yes, you CAN choose only one film per category, but that defeats the purpose unless you've only seen one documentary or whatever. A lot of people last year put only one or two foreign films. We ended up with seven nominations due to how I weighted things; in reality, we probably should have only had three. Last year was about establishing what we're doing on a general level; this year I'm trimming the crap.

On something of a side note, I have some insurance to make sure that we don't have a repeat of last year's Girlfriend Experience.

I'm actually not sure if I answered your question lol.

It helps, thanks

This is great news! The last awards were a lot of fun and I look forward to participating again this year. I'll probably wait until just before the deadline date to get my nominations in, but I do hope we get more contributors this year.



Good! I was going to ask if we'd have another vote following the nomination and this clarifies things. I like it, even though it probably wouldn't change the winners much.



I kind of liked having that movie in there. I believe one person was solely responsible (Zepp!) but it did make "our" awards more unique.



I'm pretty sure we did 10 nominees for Best Picture last time (I saved my ballot and just had a look at it) so why the change? The oscars are still on 10.

One more thing: what's the rule on voting/nominating films you haven't seen?

I shall address your points.

1. I didn't mind having The Girlfriend Experience on there, but that's not the collective opinion of ReelViews. If maybe one other person put it in their top ten, that'd be one thing. That didn't happen, though. I probably shouldn't have included it in the first place (I believe The Hurt Locker was eleventh, if you're curious), hence the insurance I've devised.

2. We did ten Best Picture nominees because of the Oscars, that's true. We can still do that if you want, but I'd still like to restrict the voting process to five because the weighting gets too crazy when there's ten. I suppose I could instigate a new weighting method, but that would require some time. Like always, this is a democracy. If I'm outnumbered on this issue, I'll be happy to change.

3. Well, let me put it this way: I don't really know what films you've seen or haven't seen. I always liked your explanation for putting Star Trek as number five for Best Make-Up, though. I'm more on Trevor's side with this issue than I used to be, but I guess I don't care a whole lot. If you've only seen one or two docs/foreign films... watch more over the next month!

By the way, thanks for advertising in your signature! You will get an e-hug in the mail in approximately three weeks time.

Looks firefly is too good for rules Pedro

Well, firefly has brought up some things I want to clarify.

Go ahead and do ten Best Picture nominees. I'll figure out how to weight them. Or don't! I'll figure it out.

Also, I'm pretty sure Confessions and Life Above All weren't released in America in 2010, despite their presence on the foreign language shortlist. Thus, they are ineligible. I saw Uncle Boonmee this year, but cannot nominate it until the 2012 awards.

And please please please PM me your votes.

I was just looking to give a sample ballot to everyone, to illustrate at length the proper format

Haha you're funny, firefly. Thanks for PMing me, though! I deleted your post in light of this.

Totally not necessary but I'll gladly accept a Pedro e-hug anyway. It might sound corny but I did the sig-thing because it genuinely makes me happy when lots of members get together and participate in things. Be it the Reelviews awards or the movie club or...anything. And not just "us" regulars, but anyone. I always think things like this or the competition are golden opportunities for lurkers/guys who stopped posting to contribute in some way. Now I just hope that it actually works!



Dang, just as I was about to copy...

I'm in.

Waited (im)patiently for this since the last one.

I have a few questions regarding nominations:
Can a foreign language film be nominated in any category other than Best Picture, for instance, could I nominate Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) for Best Actress?
How are trilogies handled, for instance, would I have to nominate the Millennium trilogy as single entry or could I nominate The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo separately?
If a movie has been released theatrically in its home country but only had a direct to DVD release in the U.S., such as, for instance, Black Death, is it still eligible? Correspondingly, if a movie has been released only on TV in its home country and had a theatrical release in the U.S., such as the Red Riding trilogy, is it still eligible?

Until Pedro responds I'd just recommend doing what you like and submitting a little before the deadline. I'm sure he'll let you know if anything is off.

Also: were you serious about nominating Black Death? I have access to this one but it didn't sound like a good film at all.

All good questions!

To the first question, yes. In fact, absolutely!

To the second question, do not treat them as trilogies. I'll take partial blame for that because I lazily listed the Millennium trilogy at the end of my first post. I should have just written the three different films.

To the... let's do the fourth one first... any part of the Red Riding trilogy would be eligible. Its status as a television production in its home country is irrelevant.

Aye, your third question's a bit tougher. Well, I don't think Black Death is eligible regardless because I see no proof that it came out in 2010. I can't buy a region one release in Amazon and IMDb thinks it's coming to video-on-demand in February. On a more general level...............

One of the Academy's requirements is that a movie has to be played for a week in Los Angeles. We're trying to be better than the Academy. Anyone remember Unthinkable? That was never released theatrically. It's eligible.

I'm in.

Quick question: Geoffrey Rush in The King's Speech: leading or supporting?