The First Annual BD.com Community Academy Awards Nomination Thread

[Romulus]

Welcome to the First Annual Blu-ray Community Academy Awards! Each and every year the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild, BAFTA’s, and Academy Awards choose the best of the best of the year in film. More notably however, are the snubs that get left out of the party or decisions you flat out disagree with. Now with this thread, you can ultimately decide who you think deserves to be nominated and who should win.

2009 in film was certainly different from 2008. This year we didn’t have a summer juggernaut in the form of The Dark Knight or an overwhelming award season contender in Slumdog Millionaire. In terms of critical acclaim, it’s been the independent releases such as Precious, A Single Man, Moon, or The Hurt Locker to name a few that have suddenly found themselves contenders for the grand prize. With that in mind, it's making the race in the Academy Awards that much more interesting because there are a handful of films that can take Best Picture. I feel that this will make for extremely interesting results.

The ballot is similar to ballots found at various award ceremonies. However, you will not be required to vote in all categories, as some are optional. On top of that, you must fill out at least 3 of the 5 spots for the category for your ballot to be valid. Let’s take a look at an example:

Best Picture
1. 1st Choice – 5 Points [required]
2. 2nd Choice – 4 Points [required]
3. 3rd Choice – 3 Points [required]
4. 4th Choice – 2 Points [optional]
5. 5th Choice – 1 Point [optional]

As with my past threads, there is a point system involved. This prevents from massive ties from happening.


NOMINATION PROCESS

I am fully aware that not everyone goes out to the theater as much as others. In consideration, I’ll be leaving this thread open for a while so I can make sure we get as many participants as possible. I don’t have a strict deadline at the moment, but I’m looking at the middle or towards the end of March to end ballot nominations. Check back on this space for an official date.


Now for the official ballot, created by Idioteque:

REQUIRED FIELDS

These are required fields because you don’t have to be specialized in a certain genre of film for these categories to count. These are the best of the best in all forms from the year.

I know most of you know what these mean, but I went ahead and added a little description for each to help people out. I posted these in quotes because when you quote this ballot, my descriptions won’t show up and you’ll be able to submit it without having to delete anything.

Best Picture
1. (5 points) [required]
2. (4 points) [required]
3. (3 points) [required]
4. (2 points) [optional]
5. (1 point) [optional]

What do you think the Best Film of 2009 was? This is NOT a favorite list. I’m not going into details of what constitutes best or favorite because the argument has been done to death. Take a look at it this way, Jurassic Park might have been your favorite film of 1993, but in terms of Directing, Story, and Acting was it better than Schindler’s List? It’s certainly possible that you enjoyed Jurassic Park more and would rather watch it more than Schindler’s List but was it more riveting? If you strongly feel that it was, back your opinion up because you may find some harsh criticism with your pick.

If you have any questions, concerns, or comments about this feel free to PM and I’ll gladly help you out. Also in the next post I’ll be going over films that are critically acclaimed to expand your horizons.

Best Actor
1. (5 points) [required]
2. (4 points) [required]
3. (3 points) [required]
4. (2 points) [optional]
5. (1 point) [optional]

This is pretty straight forward. Best Actor is usually goes to the lead role of a film, example being Sean Penn for Milk or Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler. They are the lead of the film on which it revolves around.

Best Supporting Actor
1. (5 points) [required]
2. (4 points) [required]
3. (3 points) [required]
4. (2 points) [optional]
5. (1 point) [optional]

A Supporting Actor plays the role other than that of the protagonist (lead actor). They are usually pivotal to the story and affect the action of the protagonist. Examples of a Supporting Actor would be Josh Brolin in Milk or Heath Ledger in the Dark Knight.

Best Actress
1. (5 points) [required]
2. (4 points) [required]
3. (3 points) [required]
4. (2 points) [optional]
5. (1 point) [optional]

See Best Actor.

Best Supporting Actress
1. (5 points) [required]
2. (4 points) [required]
3. (3 points) [required]
4. (2 points) [optional]
5. (1 point) [optional]

See Best Supporting Actor.

Best Director
1. (5 points) [required]
2. (4 points) [required]
3. (3 points) [required]
4. (2 points) [optional]
5. (1 point) [optional]

Optional Awards:

These fields are not required for submitting a ballot. However, they are more detailed categories that expand beyond the required fields. These specialize in Action, comedic, and horror films while looking into the technical aspects of film such as cinematography and writing in the form of Original and Adapted screenplay. Plus there are some fun categories like “Biggest Disappointment of the Year” and “Best Acting Ensemble”.

Best Comedic Performance (Male or Female)
1. (5 points)
2. (4 points)
3. (3 points)
4. (2 points)
5. (1 point)

Best Action Film
1. (2 points)
2. (1 point)


Best Comedy Film
1. (2 points)
2. (1 point)

Best Horror Flick
1. (2 points)
2. (1 point)

Best Animated Film
1. (2 points)
2. (1 point)

Best Acting Ensemble
1. (2 points)
2. (1 point)

An ensemble cast is a cast in which all the characters hold equal importance to the story. Examples with an Ensemble cast include Pulp Fiction, Lord of the Rings, and the Ocean’s Trilogy. There are certainly a few films from this year that would fit that bill nicely.

Best Original Screenplay
1. (2 points)
2. (1 point)

Original meaning that the film was NOT based on a play, book, or previous form of work. The movie was completely original.

Best Adapated Screenplay
1. (2 points)
2. (1 point)


Best Foriegn Film
1. (2 points)
2. (1 point)

Best Score
1. (2 points)
2. (1 point)

Best Cinematography
1. (2 points)
2. (1 point)

In a nutshell cinematography is the use of lightning and camera shots in a film. It is very similarly compared to still photography. For example, compare the cinematography between Harold and Kumar: Escape from Guantanamo Bay to Slumdog Millionaire. Which is more unique and impressive?

Best Documentary
1. (2 points)
2. (1 point)

Most Disappointing Film of the Year
1. (2 points)
2. (1 point)