84th Academy Awards – ‘Best Animated Short Film’

****** Links to all 5 nominees below ******

A short film is defined as an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits.

This excludes from consideration such works as:

1.  previews and advertising films
2.  sequences from feature-length films such as credit sequences
3.  unaired episodes of established TV series
4.  unsold TV series pilots

An animated film is created by using a frame-by-frame technique, and usually falls into one of the two general fields of animation: character or abstract.  Some of the techniques of animating films include cel animation, computer animation, stop-motion, clay animation, pixilation, cutouts, pins, camera multiple pass imagery, kaleidoscopic effects, and drawing on the film frame itself.  Documentary short subjects that are animated may be submitted in either the animated short film category or the documentary short subject category, but not both.

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Eligibility:

The picture must have been publicly exhibited for paid admission in a commercial motion picture theater in Los Angeles County for a run of at least three consecutive days with at least two screenings a day. Films must be screened in 35mm or 70mm film or in a 24- or 48-frame progressive scan format with a minimum projector resolution of 2048 by 1080 pixels; source image format conforming to SMPTE 428-1-2006 D-Cinema Distribution Master – Image Characteristics; image compression (if used) conforming to ISO/IEC 15444-1 (JPEG 2000), and image and sound file formats suitable for exhibition in commercial Digital Cinema sites.  The audio in a typical Digital Cinema Package (DCP) is 5.1 channels of discrete audio, and that is the preferred audio configuration.  The minimum for a non-mono configuration of the audio shall be three channels as Left, Center, Right (a Left/Right configuration is not acceptable in a theatrical environment).  The audio data shall be formatted in conformance with SMPTE 428-2-2006 D-Cinema Distribution Master – Audio Characteristics and SMPTE 428-3-2006 D-Cinema Distribution Master – Audio Channel Mapping and Channel Labeling.  Student films cannot qualify in this manner.

OR

The film must have won a qualifying award at a competitive film festival, as specified in the Academy Festival List.  Proof of the award must be submitted with the entry.  The Academy’s Short Film Awards Festival List is available on the Academy’s Web site or may be obtained from the Academy.

A student film may also qualify by winning a Gold Medal award in the Academy’s 2011 Student Academy Awards competition in the Animation, Narrative, Alternative, or Foreign Film award category.  Winners in the Documentary category are not eligible.

A short film may not be exhibited publicly anywhere in any nontheatrical form, including but not limited to broadcast and cable television, home video, and Internet transmission, until after its Los Angeles theatrical release, or after receiving its festival or Student Academy Award.  Excerpts of the film totaling no more than ten percent of its running time are exempted from this rule.

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Voting Procedures:

Excellence of the entries shall be judged on the basis of originality, entertainment and production quality without regard to cost of production or subject matter.

A reviewing committee, consisting of volunteer active and life members of the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch, will view all motion pictures entered and mark all entries 10, 9, 8, 7, or 6 with the guidelines of 10 (excellent), 8 (good), 7 (fair) or 6 (poor).  In each category not more than ten pictures receiving the highest average numerical scores above 7.5 shall be considered further.  In the event that fewer than six pictures receive average numerical scores above 7.5, those with the next highest average numerical scores shall be included until six pictures are selected.

To determine nominations, all entries selected by the Reviewing Committee shall be screened by the Branch Nominating Committee consisting of all active and life members of the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch.  A member must see all shortlisted films for the ballot to be counted.  Those members of the branch who served on the Reviewing Committee, and who viewed all of the selected pictures, in either or both categories, will receive mail ballots.  The running order of the films in each category shall be determined by lot.  The 10-to-6 point system will be used for voting at this screening.  Those films receiving an average score of 7.5 or more shall be eligible for nomination.  However, there may be not more than five nor fewer than three nominations in each category.

Final voting for the Animated Short Film and Live Action Short Film awards shall be restricted to active and life members of the Academy who have viewed all of the nominated short films in a theatrical setting.  Academy members may vote for only one film in each of the two categories.  Those members of the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch who served on the Branch Nominating Committee, and who viewed all the nominated pictures, will receive mail ballots.  When a non-standard format nominated film cannot be included in the official Academy voting screenings for its category, members must submit evidence of having seen that film elsewhere in order to vote in that category.

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Traditionally, the short film categories are thought to be a bunch of no-bodies, but really they are a show case for up in coming talent… some just breaking in and some already established and looking for more responsibility.

Remember, John Lasseter and Pixar were first nominated in this category in 1986… nine years before the release of Toy Story.  They won two years later in 1988.  Today Pixar is an icon in the industry and John Lasseter is the Chief Creative Officer of both Pixar and Disney Animation.  He is only 55 years old.

Nominations:

Dimanche – Patrick Doyon

• 1^st nomination.

This is Patrick’s first professional film.  Nominated for the Annie Award and won the Berlin Film Festival.

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore – William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg

• 1^st nomination

Despite this being first time directs, these guys are veterans.  William Joyce wrote ‘Meet the Robinsons’ and Brandon did the conceptual design for ‘Robots’… both very good animated films.

La Luna – Enrico Casarosa

• 1^st nomination.

Enrico was the story board artist for ‘Up’, ‘Ratatouille’ and ‘Ice Age’

A Morning Stroll – Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe

• 1^st nomination.

Nominated by the British Academy and won Sundance.  This short also uses the most variety in turns of animation styles and techniques.

Wild Life – Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby

• 2^nd nomination.

They were nominated 12 years ago in this category for ‘When the Day Breaks’ and this year they are also nominated for the Genie Award.

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Oscar Trends:

It is very difficult to track short film trends… however the Oscar in this category normally goes to the film that has been most successful in the film festival circuits… giving the edge to ‘A Morning Stroll’ and ‘Dimanche’.  Although there is no correlation between the awards, I’d probably give the edge to ‘A Morning Stroll’ since it is also nominated for the BAFTA.

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Prediction: 

• Winner:  A Morning Stroll – Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
• Runner-Up:  Dimanche – Patrick Doyon
• Wild Card: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore – William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
• Unlikely:  Wild Life – Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby
• No Chance in Hell:  La Luna – Enrico Casarosa

Click HERE for a full list of my Oscar predictions.