Matchies 2014 - Categories

[Ezee E]

Vote as you see fit.

[Ezee E]

I only picked Art Direction.

[Raiders]

Abandon all of them. More for admin work than anything else, and because without question almost all will have at least half of the submissions leave them blank.

We are as a collective body not experts at any of this stuff, and the more technical and less "subjective" categories we include, the goofier it all becomes to me.

[Dukefrukem]

Are some categories more subjective than others?

[baby doll]

I say scrap 'em all. It's silly to talk about these things in such an isolated way, as if each person on the crew worked in a bubble. Inevitably, it turns into a big dick-measuring contest: the most conspicuous costumes, the most elaborate sets, the goriest makeup effects, etc.

[Raiders]

Are some categories more subjective than others?

:: shrug ::

Probably not. I was just trying to say that we really should only be focusing on awards that are traditionally thought of more in the "artistic" mode than a "technical" mode, though that is reductive of the craft of people like costume and set designers. I just find that we as a community of amateur critics and film lovers are more comfortable and even capable of talking and criticizing directors and actors, and maybe to an extent cinematographers and editors, than the rest of these categories.

As Boner pointed out elsewhere, we're a niche group that has less than a 0% footprint on the online film world, so let's make this as simple as possible and not overly fussy or serious.

[Dukefrukem]

Yeh I guess. I like doing VFX and Sound but if the majority of MC doesn't think it's necessary I'm OK with skipping it. It sure does shrink the number of categories people will participate in.

[Dukefrukem]

I say scrap 'em all. It's silly to talk about these things in such an isolated way, as if each person on the crew worked in a bubble. Inevitably, it turns into a big dick-measuring contest: the most conspicuous costumes, the most elaborate sets, the goriest makeup effects, etc.

Seriously? I don't see this at all. If anything, if someone nominates a best film I haven't seen, it only makes me want to see it MORE.

[Spinal]

I'm probably not going to vote this year because I haven't seen very many films. But I don't really understand the argument being made here. How is it overly serious to vote for traditional Oscar categories, but not overly serious to adopt a Village Voice-style voting process and point scale? I've tallied these before, and the only category that doesn't get decent support is Original Song.

[Raiders]

How is it overly serious to vote for traditional Oscar categories, but not overly serious to adopt a Village Voice-style voting process and point scale?

I recommended a different point scale, but I don't really care. I like it because it is quicker and doesn't have two rounds of voting, the second done via secret PM.

I also thought this thread was talking about having 20 categories as though we are a site full of people within the industry and serious, established film critics. Not the voting method.


I've tallied these before, and the only category that doesn't get decent support is Original Song.

Not really the argument I was making, but it is true that if everyone here wants to vote for it, it makes little difference to me. I will just ignore those categories.

Honestly for me the top films is all I really care about. Awards in general are silly to me here, but I like to be a good sport where possible.

[Spinal]

Fair enough. I guess I always thought of it more like an online Oscar (or Oscar rejection) party, except with people who actually know something about what constitutes a good film.

[Dukefrukem]

Fair enough. I guess I always thought of it more like an online Oscar (or Oscar rejection) party, except with people who actually know something about what constitutes a good film.

This is how I feel. I think it's silly to me that someone wouldn't vote for a category because they're not an expert in the subject. I mean... if you haven't seen enough movies to vote for a particular category that's one thing, but who cares the level of knowledge one has on a subject? It's all for fun.

[Lazlo]

Fair enough. I guess I always thought of it more like an online Oscar (or Oscar rejection) party, except with people who actually know something about what constitutes a good film.

Exactly. I always have fun with the process, seeing what everyone valued over the year, the surprises of the secret ballot, the brilliance of the "ceremony". I dunno, some of y'all are acting like this is a burden when it's meant to just be a heap of fun.

[Raiders]

I doubt I will participate anyway, so I should have just left it alone. Forget I said anything.

[Dead & Messed Up]

I begin anything like this with the assumption that it's goofy and not to be taken too seriously.

[ledfloyd]

I'm fine with letting all of these go.

Best Film, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Director, Cinematography, and Screenplay are the only ones I ever have a lot of confidence in. I guess it's nice to have Documentary and Animation as well, but this year is particularly paltry in regards to the latter. Best Original Song is ok, but there are usually a severely limited amount of candidates. I think lumping it in with Best Score works, but someone else might take issue with that.

[Dukefrukem]

I doubt I will participate anyway, so I should have just left it alone. Forget I said anything.

http://rufiojones.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/eeyore.jpg

[Izzy Black]

ahaha

[Izzy Black]

I consider art direction and production design to be the same thing. It's easier for me to say "The overall look of this film is great" than it is for me to say which film had better make up individually, or costumes, or sets. The non-technical aspects of the mise-en-scene is a very natural thing for a layperson to spot - that is, all the stuff inside of the frame. So I think we should just have one category for that - something like production design and/or art direction.

I also like the option for sound design. This was a huge year for sound design (Upstream Color, Gravity, Spring Breakers, Inside Llewyn Davis).

[Spinal]

I'm unclear as to why it is difficult to make a distinction about the quality of costumes. That seems to me to be actually one of the easiest things to evaluate on its own merits. Acting performances are so intricately linked with directing and editing and writing and other acting performances. Whereas clothes are clothes.

[Izzy Black]

I think it's less important individually to the overall effect of a film than what is being suggested here.

For instance, To the Wonder is one of my favorite movies this year. Are the costumes great? Eh, well, sure. I mean, the wardrobe is both region and era appropriate, I suppose. But what strikes me more about the film is how the wardrobe, set decoration, and overall production design tie together and give the film a certain look.

Plus, I dislike how so often period pieces get favoritism in this regard, probably because they actually have 'costumes' rather than just clothes that people wear in modern times. I don't think a film should get high marks for costume design simply because it happens to be a film set in in the past or the future.

Anyways, I'm not outright opposed to it, I just don't see why we can't just cover all that stuff under production design.

[Ezee E]

Well, we know this much, Boner's idea is dumber than Best Song.

[baby doll]

I'm unclear as to why it is difficult to make a distinction about the quality of costumes. That seems to me to be actually one of the easiest things to evaluate on its own merits. Acting performances are so intricately linked with directing and editing and writing and other acting performances. Whereas clothes are clothes.This is exactly what bugs me about these categories: You wind up judging the clothes as clothes in isolation from everything else as opposed to looking at their functions within the overall work.

[ledfloyd]

Yeah, people got upset about Moonrise Kingdom last year because the costumes weren't elaborate enough or something. It didn't seem to matter that they were intrinsic to the mood of the film.

[baby doll]

When I try to think of a movie where the costumes are really essential to the film's effects (beyond historical accuracy and fitting a certain mood), the first example comes to mind is Hitchcock's Vertigo--particularly when Scotty is trying to transform Judy into Madeline (but then a lot of that is also the hair, makeup, and Kim Novak's performance).

[Spinal]

You wind up judging the clothes as clothes in isolation from everything else as opposed to looking at their functions within the overall work.

No, I don't.

[Spinal]

How about if we stop worrying about how some hypothetical morons would vote and just see what happens?

[Lazlo]

How about if we stop worrying about how some hypothetical morons would vote and just see what happens?

Hear hear!

[Gizmo]

How about if we stop worrying about how some hypothetical morons would vote and just see what happens?
Hey, I'm that hypothetical moron!

Also, I voted for more than 3 because

Vote as you see fit.

[Ezee E]

Alright, do you guys like the point scale idea, with the amount of mentions being a tiebreaker? Or do you like the multiple round option?

[baby doll]

Alright, do you guys like the point scale idea, with the amount of mentions being a tiebreaker? Or do you like the multiple round option?Multiple round voting is too much voting. I vote for point scale voting.

[ledfloyd]

I like having the nominations and then the final vote. I tend to use the nominations as a viewing guide.

[Gizmo]

I like having the nominations and then the final vote. I tend to use the nominations as a viewing guide.

same here. Right now I may have seen 5-10 2013 films, but once the matchie ballots are out I usually hit up another 5 or so based on major nominees.