The first Academy Awards ceremony
Image via reelfxart.blogspot.co.uk
Christmas is soon to be over and the dull grey hues and cold winter weather still remain outside. Thankfully there is still a lot to celebrate as the film awards season is upon us.
The SAG award. Image via www.sagawards.org
SAG Awards
Firstly the SAG awards, not a celebration of the more mature, SAG actually stands for the Screen Actors Guild Awards. The accolade celebrates performances in film and television. Its trophy is a 16” solid bronze nude male statuette titled ‘the actor’ which holds a mask of comedy and tragedy in each hand.
The first SAG awards were held in 1995, celebrating the previous year, broadcast from stage 22 of Universal Studios. The annual lifetime achievement award, which predates the first awards show by thirty years, was given to George Burns. The show was his final television appearance before he died at 100 years old.
This year the 20th annual SAG awards will be presented on January 18th at the Shrine Exposition Centre in Los Angeles. 12 years a slave is nominated for four awards including, the Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role, Supporting Role and Female Actor in a Supporting Role.
BAFTAs
BAFTA award. Image via en.wikipedia.org
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (formed in 1947) holds several awards each year, split into several different categories of Film, Television, Games and Children’s. From 1968 the Film and Television awards were held together in one ceremony until 1998.
The first awards were designed by English sculptor Henry Moore, and were large, bronze statues of a seated lady. The current BAFTA award which you will probably recognise is the iconic bronze mask, based on a design by Mitzi Cunliffe and has been presented since 1976. The first BAFTA mask was presented to Sir Charles Chaplin, better known as Charlie, who was honoured as an Academy Fellow.
The BAFTA Film Awards have been held in the Royal Opera House since 2008 and this years celebration will be held there on Sunday the 16th of February.
The Oscar award. Image via www.fxguide.com
Oscars
Finally; the Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars. Arguably the most prestigious, and one of the oldest, the Academy Awards have been held since the first ceremony in 1929. It was a far smaller affair than the huge event it is today, 270 people attended the first ceremony at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.
The award winners were announced three months before the first ceremony, but from the second awards they have been kept secret. Since 1941 the Academy adopted a strict sealed envelope policy after the Los Angeles Times printed the award winners names in its evening addition before the 1940’s ceremony.
The first awards had 12 categories, since then there have been more and more additions including, awards for Film Editing, Music Scoring, and Song (7th awards), Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress (9th awards), Special Effects (12th awards), an Award for Make Up (54th Awards) and The Animated Feature Film Award (54th awards).
The 86th Academy Awards will be held on Sunday March 2nd in the Dolby Theatre where they have been held for the last 12 years.
I will be looking at some more niche and unique awards soon, those which often don’t get such a look in from the average movie goer. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for post updates.