We are officially less than one week away from the Oscars. People will be popping champagne and celebrating 2017’s best in cinema.
And movie buffs everywhere might throw their own parties with food and drinks. No party would be complete without the challenge of guessing who will win each category. Here are some tips to make sure everyone is making the best guesses they can:
Split Best Director and Best Picture
In the last five years, only one director has won in the Best Director category for the film that won Best Picture: Alejandro G. Inarritu for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance). With this trend, it is best to split the categories when filling out a ballot — especially this year.
Right now, Guillermo del Toro is the favorite to win Best Director, which means it is unlikely The Shape of Water will take home Best Picture. Del Toro also won Best Director at the Directors Guild Award, and that boosts his chances of winning Sunday. The front-runner for Best Picture is Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which took home the Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild (SAG) award and British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award for their equivalent of Best Picture. It’s a safe bet that it will win the Oscar, too.
Don’t rely on who won Golden Globes
The Golden Globes took place almost two months ago on Jan. 7. A lot can happen in that amount of time.
The Golden Globes kick off the movie awards season and have a different group of voting members. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association votes for the Golden Globes. It’s journalists voting on what they think is best, not people who have been in the film industry for years. This can skew who gets voted for what. This year, the HFPA nominated The Post for seven awards, and the film only picked up two Oscar nods.
Instead of gaging whether a film will win, take a look at who won at the SAGs, BAFTAs, DGAs, Writers Guild Awards and Producers Guild Awards. The people who vote for those ceremonies also vote for the Oscars.
Know the difference between Sound Mixing and Sound Editing
Sound Mixing and Sound Editing are the two most confusing categories at Oscars. The difference between the two is subtle, but it makes a big difference when choosing which film is going to win for each category.
Sound editing focuses on the sound captured directly on set. This can be any of the sound effects, dialogue or any added noises like gunfire. The person edits the sounds directly into the movie. The next phase is where the sound mixing comes in. A sound mixer blends all the layers together and presents the final product. The front-runners in this category are Dunkirk and Baby Driver.
Look at a list of front-runners for the short film categories
There are three categories that made in a short format, which catches people off guard sometimes. Most of the films can be found through a simple Google search or even on Netflix. For those who don’t feel like watching them all, just look at the front-runners — they typically win, according to IndieWire.
Do your research
For those who haven’t seen every movie on the list, there’s no need to work around a schedule to see them all. People can research front-runners and read up on commentary to figure out if a film will win. IndieWire does a comprehensive Oscar predictions page that changes as different films start leading. But when in doubt, following instinct is the best way to go.
Georgia Davis is a junior studying journalism at Ohio University. Note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Which film do you think will take home the most statues at the Oscars on Sunday? Tell Georgia by tweeting her at @georgiadee35.
