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93rd Academy Awards (2021 ceremony for 2020 films)


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23 hours ago, Erik Woods said:

 

As long as the composers work on the score equally AND as collaborators then you can have as many composers nominated that you want.  However, they would only hand out one trophy if the score won.  But in this case, Batiste didn't work with R&R, which is why adding Batiste to the ballot was going to get the score DQ'd.  But it looks like the Music Branch doesn't care about THEIR OWN RULES and have gone to bat for this score but not for Thomas Newman and his score to Let Them All Talk. There was no hope in hell that Newman's score would ever get nominated but they DQ'd that score because of their rules yet decided to bend them for Disney. BULL-SHIT!!!!

 

-Erik-


What % of Soul is R&R?

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The Soul OST album is 64 minutes long

 

41 minutes of that is Reznor and Ross's original score

 

21 minutes of that is John Batiste's jazz tracks (no idea how much of this is old standards redone vs new compositions)

 

And then 2 minutes is source songs

 

I have no idea how much additional music is in the film but not on the OST

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So Batiste’s contribution is not large enough (same as for Newman’s score apparently being only 40% of the music in the film).

I’m bad at math.  So R&R is less than 60%?  Hm, pretty poor to uphold the rules to differing degrees for different composers.

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@mrbellamy I think I used to feel that way about them at one point, but none of those things have been my feelings since maybe 2014? It was a slow progression, but I just slowly realized that they just don't deserve that pedestal or prestige that I put them on and quite frankly, I don't think they deserve the pedestal the industry has put them on. 

 

I do think at one point the praise was justified and they carried more prestige, but I just can't be invested in them any more. I appreciate your thoughts though. I'm glad some people still feel that way about them, but they have utterly lost me with numerous nonsensical decisions every year and I'm just numb to their choices and their existence at this point. Lol.

 

As far as the score category goes specifically, I've been bad this year and have only heard Soul in it's entirety. I've also heard small bits of Mank, Tenet, and Newman's Little Things score.

 

I'll have to check out The Midnight Sky & News of the World and the others in their entirety, but so far, nothing this year has really made me think it should without a doubt be nominated as the best. I'm not really rooting for anyone or anything specifically. 

 

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On 2/2/2021 at 3:20 PM, TheUlyssesian said:

This might be an unpopular thing to say but Baptiste was ruled eligible for Soul for politically correct reason.

 

Honest to god he should have been disqualified.

 

One the rules states that 2 composers can only be nominated if they worked together to write the score.

 

Now that is true for Ross and Reznor, but there is no indication that all 3 worked together on the Jazz portions and on the regular score.

 

Also 3 composers couldn't be nominated in the past.

 

Also, the jazz portions on their own amount to some source cues and are not substantial enough in volume to merit consideration.

 

Also, the score itself is entirely unremarkable, on album and in the movie.

 

Also, this will set a bad precedent for Pixar. One of the few holdouts of orchestral scores, if they win an oscar they will think, we can get away with this texture soundscape shit and might abandon their orchestral sound.

 

And lastly, even the movie isn't that good.

 

So I think the score shouldn't be nominated at all.

 

But this is such a shit hopeless year that it will win - and the win will also be very political reasons.

 

I can see the headline - First time in history 2 black composers nominated between Soul and Da 5 bloods etc.

 

There is also the controversy of white people appropriating jazz. That is the reason Baptiste was hired and why he will win.

I think that is absolutely the reason Batiste was hired, but isn’t that appropriate for the film [regardless of quality]? It makes sense that they’d want the music of a fictional black pianist to be written and performed by a real one :) (The audition scene at the start of the film was apparently directly inspired by Batiste’s own experience).

 

Also, I saw a featurette that shows Batiste performing ‘Epiphany’ by Reznor/Ross, since Joe Gardner plays it in the film. The three composers are seen working together on-site. I think that was the only cue all three worked on together.

On 2/2/2021 at 4:33 PM, Edmilson said:

In Soul's case, some of the Batiste cues are not original from him, and instead are jazz standards, right? He just arranged them for the movie. In that case, shouldn't this be enough to disqualify at least Batiste's part of the score?

 

 

I was happy that JNH got a nomination. I'm really hoping for him at the Oscar, it'd be his first nom since Defiance in 2009.

I think only two pieces performed at the Half Note club in the film are preexisting and that’s it.

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Honestly: if Disney and the Academy were really pushing for a composer of color to get nominated and (likely) win an Oscar, wouldn't Batiste have been hired solo? The film was still reliant on a popular composing duo taking up much of the work, so those are the names that are going to stand out to most people. So if it was a win, wouldn't people be crying foul over a black man only being able to win because he happened to supplement a famous white duo? Especially ones who've already won in the past? It just doesn't quite add up, so I'm more just willing to wager it just being studios wanting to bank on R&R once more (with Disney being upfront about not letting technicalities get in their way).

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Had the rules always been like this? Because right after, I was reminded of The Color Purple, and the claim I heard about Jones not really doing much composing on the project (I don't remember the exact details). I checked the wiki page, and a whole ton of people are listed in the accolades page for that year's Oscars. Is it just an online description thing, or was it properly credited like that? Seems like a dead horse to be crying over at this point if examples like that were always the case. Definitely am newer to this subject, so I'm likely missing details here.

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I have to agree on Soul. They bent (shattered) the rule for one reason and one reason only: optics (political correctness). The rules don't matter. Virtue signaling for the Academy is where it's at.

 

Soul will make the final list of nominees. I think that's virtually guaranteed. It wouldn't surprise me at all if it won. 

 

I'm actually trying to think of a score that really knocked me out in 2020...

 

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6 hours ago, Romão said:

It seems a bit silly having the Oscars this year, with so few releases in 2020

 

I don't agree but what would be the minimum amount of releases in order to give out awards according to you?

 

-Erik-

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1 minute ago, Erik Woods said:

 

I don't agree but what would be the minimum amount of releases in order to give out awards according to you?

 

-Erik-

 

 

I have no idea, but let's no pretend the competition this year was as crowded as in previous year. Pretty much all high profile Hollywood prestige productions will be nominated. Not to mention the "so-called" technical awards. The sheer amount of 2020 high profile productions that were delayed is staggering. 

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I'm still intrigued that many are seemingly so surprised and irritated that the Academy has broken it's own rules and made an exception here. The rules only matter until they don't and they also don't matter until they do. There's no real rhyme or reason to it. Why be mad about it happening for this specific score when this has happened nearly every year? 

 

Personally, I'm fine with it getting a nom. I enjoyed it, and I think the composer rule is ridiculous. I'd wish they'd ditch it. Of course it doesn't make sense to allow it forward and disallow others for the same reason, but that's just how the Academy has worked for the last however many years. 

 

I guess my point is: Don't be surprised when this happens with something else next year, because it will.

 

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4 hours ago, Romão said:

 

 

I have no idea, but let's no pretend the competition this year was as crowded as in previous year. Pretty much all high profile Hollywood prestige productions will be nominated. Not to mention the "so-called" technical awards. The sheer amount of 2020 high profile productions that were delayed is staggering. 

If the Award bodies decided to look beyond their own noses they'd find a good helping of great films released last year.  Same goes for film scores. 

 

-Erik-

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5 hours ago, Romão said:

 

 

I have no idea, but let's no pretend the competition this year was as crowded as in previous year. Pretty much all high profile Hollywood prestige productions will be nominated. Not to mention the "so-called" technical awards. The sheer amount of 2020 high profile productions that were delayed is staggering. 

 

At least, it's given the smaller films a chance at the stage. A very fine film like Minari would probably not have been part of the conversation at all, if 2020 had its full blockbuster slate on board. So I'm all for it.

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Both KK and Erik make good points and it may help to bring attention to much smaller productions. But the more technical award nominations might end being dominated by the few big budget tentpoles that actually opened this year, so it will seem a bit weird having lackluster productions like Tenet and Wonder Woman 84 receiving a bunch of nominations

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If you are a weirdo who loves following awards season like elections/sports (as opposed to the more tabloid-ish way of following it), I highly recommend this newsletter/blog/whatever called NumLock

 

https://awards.substack.com/

 

It is some seriously insightful, nerdy, and very interesting analysis.

 

 

You get awesome graphs like this that show how the precursor awards (Globes, BAFTA, SAG, DGA, etc.) have gotten worse at "predicting" the Oscar Best Picture winner over the last decade:

 

https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-43

 

 

And like this that shows how about half of the membership of the Academy has joined only in the last decade (which partially helps explain the above graph)

 

https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-43

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Academy Shortlists revealed!

 

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

Fifteen scores will advance in the Original Score category for the 93rd Academy Awards.  One hundred thirty-six scores were eligible in the category.  Members of the Music Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.

 

The scores, listed in alphabetical order by film title, are:

 

“Ammonite” - Dustin O'Halloran & Volker Bertelmann

“Blizzard of Souls” - Lolita Ritmanis

“Da 5 Bloods” - Terence Blanchard
“The Invisible Man” - Benjamin Wallfisch
“Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey” - John Debney
“The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se)” - Gabriel Yared
“The Little Things” - Thomas Newman
“Mank” - Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
“The Midnight Sky” - Alexandre Desplat
“Minari” - Emilie Mosseri
“Mulan” - Harry Gregson-Williams
“News of the World” - James Newton Howard
“Soul” - Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross & Jon Batiste

“Tenet” - Ludwig Gorranson
“The Trial of the Chicago 7” - Daniel Pemberton

 

Other categories

 

https://www.oscars.org/oscars/93rd-oscars-shortlists

 

What in the world is Blizzard or Souls or Jingle Jangle????

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4 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

He can win if the Academy doesn't fall in love again with Reznor and Ross.

 

Unfortunately I can't see him beating those guys, 

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52 minutes ago, TheUlyssesian said:

Academy Shortlists revealed!

 

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

Fifteen scores will advance in the Original Score category for the 93rd Academy Awards.  One hundred thirty-six scores were eligible in the category.  Members of the Music Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.

 

The scores, listed in alphabetical order by film title, are:

 

“Ammonite” - Dustin O'Halloran & Volker Bertelmann

“Blizzard of Souls” - Lolita Ritmanis

“Da 5 Bloods” - Terence Blanchard
“The Invisible Man” - Benjamin Wallfisch
“Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey” - John Debney
“The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se)” - Gabriel Yared
“The Little Things” - Thomas Newman
“Mank” - Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
“The Midnight Sky” - Alexandre Desplat
“Minari” - Emilie Mosseri
“Mulan” - Harry Gregson-Williams
“News of the World” - James Newton Howard
“Soul” - Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross & Jon Batiste

“Tenet” - Ludwig Gorranson
“The Trial of the Chicago 7” - Daniel Pemberton

 

Other categories

 

https://www.oscars.org/oscars/93rd-oscars-shortlists

 

What in the world is Blizzard or Souls or Jingle Jangle????


So much mediocrity amongst that... ergh.

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13 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

Me neither. The Academy just loves them.

 

Can't believe R&R will get their second Oscar, while to this day JNH, Elfman, Thomas Newman, etc., haven't got none.

 

Even more miraculously while people here might hate Gia, after this year's nominations, R & R will have more Score academy award nominations that fucking Gia. Are you kidding me!

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47 minutes ago, TheUlyssesian said:

 

Even more miraculously while people here might hate Gia, after this year's nominations, R & R will have more Score academy award nominations that fucking Gia. Are you kidding me!


Gia already has more Oscars than he deserves, never mind nominations! 

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4 hours ago, Edmilson said:

Me neither. The Academy just loves them.

 

Can't believe R&R will get their second Oscar, while to this day JNH, Elfman, Thomas Newman, etc., haven't got none.

“The Academy just loves them” because they were nominated and won one time?
The composer this phrase is most applicable to is John Williams, of course. 

 

JNH, Elfman, and Thomas Newman haven’t composed anything of note in 2020. What does their output this year have to do with previous awards ceremonies?

 

I don’t know why this forum continually hinges on The Academy year after year over the same gripes. 

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I just don't hear what people are hearing in THE MIDNIGHT SKY (outside the theme, anyway), MULAN and TENET. To me, these were all huge disappointments last year. A lot of the other selections are 'meh', while a couple of them are at the very least decent enough to warrant an honourable mention: SOUL, MANK, THE LIFE AHEAD and NEWS OF THE WORLD.

The best of those is - by far - DA 5 BLOODS, which is the only one that truly deserves to be there.

So, as with the Golden Globes, a fairly disappointing list overall. So many superior scores completely overlooked.

 

Quote

Jingle Jangle is good but I never heard of Blizzard of Souls before. @Thor probably knows it

 

I remember sampling BLIZZARD briefly when going through all the list of eligible titles of the year, but it didn't make much of an impression. Never seen the film.

 

In other categories, Norway got a record-breaking 5 films on the shortlist, however, so some good came out of this.

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10 hours ago, TheUlyssesian said:

Found this playlist for Blizzard which is apparently a Latvian film. How on earth did the composers branch even hear of and watch this film let alone vote for it!

 

 

 

Sounds like someone's being playing ton of Halo and Destiny (Marty O'Donnell). 

 

 

 

 

Well, I always knew it was "Oscar worthy".

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9 hours ago, Koray Savas said:

JNH, Elfman, and Thomas Newman haven’t composed anything of note in 2020. What does their output this year have to do with previous awards ceremonies?

 

 

Oh really? So how do you explain JNH's News of the World being nominated for Golden Globes, the Critics Choice Awards and making the final list for the Oscar nominations? That's what you define as "anything of note"?

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  • 4 weeks later...

BAFTA nominees for Best Original Score:

 

Mank – Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
Minari – Emile Mosseri
News of the World – James Newton Howard
Promising Young Woman – Anthony Willis
Soul – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross & Jon Batiste

 

http://filmmusicreporter.com/2021/03/09/2021-bafta-nominations-announced/

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25 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

BAFTA nominees for Best Original Score:

 

Mank – Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
Minari – Emile Mosseri
News of the World – James Newton Howard
Promising Young Woman – Anthony Willis
Soul – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross & Jon Batiste

 

http://filmmusicreporter.com/2021/03/09/2021-bafta-nominations-announced/

Glad for Anthony Willis, his Promising Young Woman was quite enjoyable although I'm sure Soul will win again.

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Happy for Mosseri. Hopefully he manages to crack into the Oscars nominations list too.

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Best Music (Original Score) nominations announced:

 

Da 5 Bloods - Terence Blanchard

MankTrent Reznor & Atticus Ross

Minari Emile Mosseri

News Of The World - James Newton Howard

SoulTrent Reznor, Atticus Ross & Jon Batiste

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On 3/9/2021 at 8:41 PM, KK said:

Happy for Mosseri. Hopefully he manages to crack into the Oscars nominations list too.

 

I thought it was a woman! Emile/Emilie....my bad.

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