Oscar Winners Breakdown!

So the Oscars had it's fair share of upsets, surprises, and obvious 

winners. Here I'll go through all the winners (minus the documentary/animated feature/shorts) in the order announced. 

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

"Hugo"- Robert Richardson. 

The very first award of the night, and I knew it was off to an interesting start. The Tree of Life was supposed to be the obvious winner here, having picked up several awards, including the American Cinematographer's Association Award. This came as a big shock to me. Plus I was already 0/1. I knew this wasn't going to be a good night. 

ART DIRECTION

"Hugo" Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo

While I had predicted Hugo for this win. I was a) disappointed Harry Potter didn't steal it and b) already tired of Hugo winning. Winning the first 2 awards, announced beside each other, I knew where this was going. I wasn't the biggest fan of Hugo, obviously, but was hoping the surprising wins were over. 1/2. 

COSTUME DESIGN

"The Artist" Mark Bridges

While I also predicted Hugo for this one, it was nice to see the Artist win something early on. There were some great costumes here, and it was a deserved win. 1/3. 

MAKEUP

"The Iron Lady" Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

Arguably the only award Harry Potter had a true shot on, and it lost. While I felt HP's makeup work for goblins and Voldemort were fantastic, Meryl's makeup as an old Thatcher was fantastic as well. I wrongly predicted HP to win. Why? I don't know. Silly me. 1/4. 

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

"A Separation" Iran

While I know nothing of foreign films, I did get this one right! 2/5. 

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Octavia Spencer in "The Help"

While this was no surprise at all, I was still extraordinarily happy. Octavia looked great, and was so great in the Help. She truly deserved every award she got for the role, including this one. 3/6. 

FILM EDITING

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall

A bit of a surprise, really. Most people (including myself) predicted either Hugo or the Artist to win it when The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo really took it. In a way, I'm not too surprised. While it wasn't up for BP it looked like a well edited film. Still, I didn't get this one right. 3/7. 

SOUND EDITING

"Hugo" Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty

Surprisingly, I did get this one correct! I figured it was going to be either Hugo or War Horse that would either win both, or just one, so I predicted Hugo for this and War Horse for Mixing, figuring I'd get at least one right, since I'm by no means a sound expert. And I got this one correct! Besides that I have no comments. 4/8. 

SOUND MIXING

"Hugo" Tom Fleischman and John Midgley

And, well, Hugo ended up taking both, so I got one of them correct. 4/9. 

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

"Rango" Gore Verbinski

While I figured Rango would win, and predicted rightly so, I still secretly hoped Kung-Fu Panda 2 would win. Sadly it didn't, but I predicted correctly. 5/10. 

VISUAL EFFECTS

"Hugo" Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning

Well, this was a huge, huge shocker, in my opinion. Rise of the Planet of the Apes has been a big winner this season. The apes were completely made via motion capture and visual effects, and while I didn't think they looked that great with people around them, it was pretty darn good. My second place was Harry Potter. I hadn't thought past that because I assumed they were the only 2 contenders (HP barely being one). But Hugo stole it away for it's "cool" use of 3D. Dangit. 5/11. 

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Christopher Plummer in "Beginners"

Was anyone really surprised? 6/12. 

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

"The Artist" Ludovic Bource

At the rate things had been going, I was worried Howard Shore's work for Hugo would steal this too. Thankfully, Bource's charming score and backbone of the film prevailed. 7/13. 

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)

"Man or Muppet" from "The Muppets" Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie

Again, obviously. 8/14. 

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)

"The Descendants" Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash

Everyone predicted this to win, while I predicted an upset of Zaillian and Sorkin winning for Moneyball. Sadly, I was wrong. 8/15. 

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)

"Midnight in Paris" Written by Woody Allen

Thank goodness for obvious winners. I thought I had known what I was predicting. Clearly I'm a rookie. 9/16. 

DIRECTING

"The Artist" Michel Hazanavicius

Honestly so excited. He was fantastic, and his direction really showed through in this film. Glad to see him win. Very touching moment. 10/17. 

ACTOR IN A LEAD ROLE

Jean Dujardin in "The Artist"

I was very torn on who to win. Initially I was hardcore Clooney, but Dujardin ended up stealing my heart as the time came closer and I found myself rooting for him, though I loved both performances. The first Frenchman to win Best Actor. And a very deserving win, too. 11/18. 

ACTRESS IN A LEAD ROLE

Meryl Streep in "The Iron Lady"

While Meryl Streep is fab, this movie really was not. She's been long overdue for a win, but this shouldn't have been her year. I'd have rather seen her win for an amazing role in an amazing film. This win felt slightly underwhelming as she was the only good part in the film. I was truly rooting for Viola, and she really deserved it. Meryl should've won over Bullock for her portrayal as Julia Child. Disappointed, though Meryl is fab. 11/19. 

BEST MOTION PICTURE

"The Artist"

As the night progressed, I felt myself liking this movie more and more as I was getting a little worried Hugo had more backing from the Academy than I thought. I was utterly relieved to see this win, and was very glad it had. It was such a well made film, and it is so utterly deserving. 12/20. 

Overall, I got 12/20 (and then 2/4 for the Documentary/Animated area, in which were blind guesses based on others guesses). Giving me a total of  60% on the 20 I did breakdowns for. I didn't do so well, but this was my first year of getting into things, and only really got into it around September. It was a fun award season, though I hope next year is a lot better (: