By Vanessa Weinert of The MovieNess.
The title Art Director is given to the person who is responsible for the overall look of a movie. Nowadays the term Production Designers seems to be more common but the Academy has kept the award name Best Art Direction for now. An Art Director or Production Designer is the head of the Art Department, responsible for everything including Costume and Set Design. The Set Director (included in this nomination) works below the Art Director. The first Academy Award in this category went to William Cameron Menzies for The Dove and Tempist in 1928. From the 1940's to 1967 the Award was devided into two Awards. One for black-and-white and one for color films. In 1947 the title of the Award was changed from the "Interior Decoration" to "Best Art Direction - Set Decoration".
Avatar
Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg (Art Direction); Kim Sinclair (Set Decoration)
Avatar could have easily been nominated for Best Animated Feature since more then half of the film is animated and/or blue screened. It is set on the planet Pandora, a world that had to be created from scratch. And let me just say - it was done extremely well. From flying dragons, floating mountains and more then one completely new species to glowing particles on pretty much everything, Avatar is a feast for the eyes. Pandora is filled with an arguably more beautiful flora and fauna then what we have on earth and is especially nice to look at at night when everything is illuminated. The scenes that are not 3D animation still have a lot of CGI in them because the movie is set in the far future and for example computer screens are holographic like in Star Wars. A lot of work went into the making of that movie and it really payed off. It is a stunning and innovative movie and I hope to see more like it in the future. The only thing I would argue is that the movie is especially fantastic to look at in 3D (or IMAX 3D) and will probably lose a lot of its charm once it comes out on DVD and the only way to watch it is in 2D on a TV screen.
This is Rick Carter's second Oscar Nomination, he got his first one for Forest Gump (1994). He has also worked on films like Jurassic Park, Back to the Future and AI: Artificial Intelligence which probably caught James Cameron's attention.
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro (Art Direction); Caroline Smith (Set Decoration)
Similarly to Avatar, this film is divided into half animation and half live action. Although, in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus the real life Art Direction is absolutely gorgeous and the animated parts are, in my opinion, plain ugly. Director Terry Gilliam is known for his unusual taste in Art Direction and therefore it is no surprise that yet another one of his movies is nominated for best Art Direction. I do have to disagree with this nomination. I loved the way Gilliam portrays a mix of modern London with the mystery of Doctor Parnassus' circus caravan. The caravan itself is so full of beautiful obscurities and the play with colors and shadows is very intriguing. But once a character steps behind the mirror into Parnassus' imagination the film goes into really bad computer animation. What do I mean by bad? It looks like 3D animation that was done ten or twenty years ago. It doesn't look like it was a conscious stylisitc decision but rather like a last minute solution. And what annoys me most about that is that it could have been so beautifully done with Gilliam's usual theatrical "paper cut-out" sets that we all love so much.
Nine
John Myhre (Art Direction); Gordon Sim (Set Decoration)
Nine is based on the stage musical Nine (which is based on the Fellini film 8 1/2) and also uses a stage as the main focus of the movie. It is yet another film that is split in two parts: One is Guido Contini's (Daniel Day-Lewis) real life and the other part is his fantasy. All of the fantasy scenes take place on the set of his upcoming movie which looks a lot like an opera stage. The props and the atmosphere of the stage change according to who the dream fantasy is about. For me this technique worked really well. It does give the movie a more theatrical feel to it. The real life scenes are set in Rome in the 1960's. Italy is a beautiful setting and the Art Direction made sure to use the best spots. Although bloggers seem to disagree on how good the movie is, I don't think there is any doubt on how beautiful the sets and costumes are.
John Myhre already received two Academy Awards for Best Art Direction for Chicago (together with Nine Set Decorator Gordon Sim) and Memories of a Geisha, both of which were directed by Rob Marshall. He was also nominated for his work on Dreamgirls and Elizabeth.
Sherlock Holmes
Sarah Greenwood (Art Direction); Katie Spencer (Set Decoration)
Set in 1891, Sherlock Holmes has that typical filthy look of the late 19th Century London. Everything is dark, mysterious and dirty. A lot of the look of this film was simply achieved by great cinematography but, of course, this only works on great sets. The Art Direction is well done but I don't feel like it is award worthy. At least I didn't notice anything special while watching it. Holmes' apartment ist nicely done. It is old and full of stuff and has a very homely feel to it. There is really nothing wrong with the look of this film but I personally wouldn't have nominated it for this category, I would have nominated it for Best Cinematography.
Sarah Greenwood (Art Direction) and Katie Spencer (Set Decoration) already received two Academy Award nominations for their work on Pride and Prejudice and Atonement, so arguably they would deserve to win an Oscar this year. But although the Art Direction was nice on Sherlock Holmes, it doesn't feel special.
The Young Victoria
Patrice Vermette (Art Direction); Maggie Gray (Set Decoration)
The Young Victoria is the only film out of the five nomination that I have not personally seen. It is also the only film whose design relies solely on the actual look of the time. All the other nominated films were, at least partly, created out of the imagination. Looking at pictures and videos of The Young Victoria, the Art Direction looks very lush and grand. It does look beautiful and I am sure a lot of effort went into all the designs but it doesn't look like something that I haven't seen before.
This is Patrice Vermette's first Oscar Nomination. Maggie Gray was previously nominated for Best Best Art Direction-Set Decoration for Terry Gilliam's Brazil in 1985.
So who should get the Oscar for Best Art Direction - Set Decoration? Even though I didn't like the movie that much, I would give this particular Oscar to Avatar. It has the most innovative Production Design that I have seen in a long time and really impressed me. What do you think?
