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JAWS theme to silence long-winded Oscar winners - thoughts?


jw_researcher

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They chose it wisely....mostly for when people were rattling off names. I doubt they would have used it if someone was tearing their heart out over a deceased loved one etc.

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Every year it's a bit jarring when the music starts, no matter what music they pick. Even the winners tend to reference it in their speeches... it's something that's understood and joked about within the ceremony itself at this point. So picking Jaws was pretty funny and appropriate.

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Brilliant. Put a humorous spin on an unfortunate necessity. This is a big moment for these people, sure, but the rest of us have to sit through a couple of dozen such moments in one night, none of which mean as much to us as it does to them.

That's why I loved the winner (I forget who it was) who simply announced they would be thanking everyone they knew in the weeks to come. It's also why Daniel Day Lewis had the best, funniest, most relatable speech of the evening. He didn't spend five minutes playing out a litany of people we didn't know. He volleyed the most hilarious joke of the ceremony (buried everything MacFarlane brought), thanked the most obvious people—including Spielberg—and then moved on. Beautifully done. Hell, even Jennifer Lawrence, who clearly didn't expect to win, got up there, had a nice moment, and left with time to spare . . . and that after suffering a slight (though understandable) bit of humiliation on her way to the stage.

This in contrast to the guy who talked right on over the Jaws theme until they had no choice but to cut off his mike. Here's the thing: if you're nominated, you know you might win, so you ought to prepare a short, sweet acceptance speech prepared that makes you look wise, grateful, and aware of the time limits surrounding you—and ensures you don't embarrass yourself when the "stick man" does his thing.

- Uni

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As I said in the Oscar thread, a cute idea, but I sympathize with the Visual Effects winner who got cut off just as he was trying to bring attention to the recent bankruptcy of his company and the financial difficulties facing the VFX industry. On the one hand, he could have planned his speech better to allow for more time to get into it, but interrupting him in that way came across as tacky nonetheless.

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"Such is the kind of cheapening shorthand in which our culture specializes and it works against a deeper appreciation of something quite worthwhile."

- David A. Smith

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In that case they could shorten the telecast to an hour and just show all the winners in a pre-recorded dinner ceremony.

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As I said in the Oscar thread, a cute idea, but I sympathize with the Visual Effects winner who got cut off just as he was trying to bring attention to the recent bankruptcy of his company and the financial difficulties facing the VFX industry. On the one hand, he could have planned his speech better to allow for more time to get into it, but interrupting him in that way came across as tacky nonetheless.

Non-unionised workforce!

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In that case they could shorten the telecast to an hour and just show all the winners in a pre-recorded dinner ceremony.

Actually, back in the day, the Oscar winners usually only said a brief 'thank you' and stormed off-stage almost as quickly as they had arrived. Speeches were unusual. I'm sure you're familiar with Walt Disney's delivery of the statuette to the film music winners in 1953. In fact, Alfred Newman storms off the stage so quickly here that he almost forgets to pick up his award!:

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It would be kinda refreshing too. Notice how Dimitri Tiomkin sneaks in a comment at his second award ("this is like a dream" or something), and even just at that Bob Hope tries to rush him off stage! Not everything was slower back in the day.

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What's awesome about that Disney clip is when Bob Hope explains to everyone how the orchestra knows what to play the instant the winner is announced—and the producers made sure we saw it on the very next announcement. I thought that was pretty cool.

- Uni

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Nice clip. I love seeing original Walt Disney stuff. For what he's done in entertainment, it's interesting to see him in front of the camera, he almost seems a little uncomfortable, and there aren't that many clips that I've found. Also interesting to see how quickly the recipients came and went. Thanks for sharing.

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