The Greatest FYC Ad of All Time

[src]

Or at least the greatest FYC ad since the one for Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge! "She Sings! She Dances! She Dies!"

For Your Consideration: 10 Months Out

Glenn here from Stale Popcorn to help fill in during the absense of Nathaniel while is he is in Nashville. I'm here to do what I do best and that's talk about Australian film.

We're ten months away from finding out what films from 2010 the Academy decide are worthy enough to join the lofty ranks of Best Picture nominees - /snark - but by this time last year we had already been advised that Mo'Nique was going to win an Oscar for a movie that co-starred Mariah Carey and that a British unknown was poised to steal thunder and glory from the likes of Meryl Streep. Only one of those things came true, but it bears repeating, so it's never too early to start the For Your Consideration campaign for someone who is completely and utterly deserving.

That someone is Jacki Weaver as "Janine Cody" in Animal Kingdom.


I saw David Michôd's debut feature a couple of weeks ago now and it is very good. So good, in fact, that it has been picked up for American distribution by an actual distributor with cash flow and resources and the ability to market something to more than just a few 60-seat arthouse cinemas in New York City (that would be Sony Pictures Classics)! Animal Kingdom is a Melbourne-set crime drama revolving around a family of armed bank robbers and the young teenager who gets drawn into their dirty deeds.

Jacki Weaver, a sort of acting legend here in Australia, plays the family matriarch who has a creepy need to pash her sons (and grandsons) on the lips to show her unflinching devotion. What makes Weaver's performance so delicious is how she spends much of the first half slowly building her character's persona as the quiet, ever-smiling, loving mother. All that changes as the film's second half brings about a twist and lovely ol' Mrs Cody becomes an embodiment of evil, unleashing her puppet master skills as she tries to blackmail, cover-up, extort and manipulate those around her into dancing to her tune.

I wrote in my review that Weaver's performance is "sure to be remembered as one of the finest displays of acting ever committed to an Australian film", and it reminds me of the recent towering performances of Mo'Nique and Javier Bardem. This lady will give you nightmares.

Nathaniel ranked Ms Weaver as a long shot for Best Supporting Actress honours at the Academy Awards based on, I imagine, the buzz that came out of Sundance and from people such as myself who couldn't shut up about her. I walked out of the cinema wanting to shout "Jacki Weaver just won the Academy Award!" but I didn't because she's old, she's foreign and features in a movie that will probably go way too underseen to really make much of a charge, but boy would it be sweet to see this 62-year-old unknown actress ("unknown" in the grand scheme of Academy things) plow right on through to an Oscar nomination.



"You've done some bad things, Sweetie!"
So I, right here, put forth a year long FYC campaign for Jacki Weaver in Animal Kingdom. It's released in Australia on the 3rd of June and will hopefully see an American release sometime later in the year. But enough about me and my wishes, I'd love to know if any readers out there have seen anything that they think strongly merits a studio plonking down the cash for a FYC campaign. The Ghost Writer? Shutter Island? Hot Tub Time Machine? A Razzie FYC for the latter, I'm sure.

The For Your Consideration Corner

Glenn here again for another FYCC installment. Have y'all recovered from the Golden Globes? I know I have... but then again, I wasn't able to watch them (damn you Australian television networks!) and instead relaxed at home watching season one of Veronica Mars all over again. I'm sure the Globes were fun, but Veronica wins out every time.

Doubt is a movie based around words, is it not? Based on the TONY-winning stage place by John Patrick Shanley, the film itself hasn't quite gotten the Best Picture buzz it had hoped for, instead being crushed under the weight of the other high profile stage adaptation Frost/Nixon (discussed here in December). Apart from the acting, however, the one category most people are predicting Doubt to be nominated in is Best Adapted Screenplay. Quite apt then that while looking at the For Your Consideration ads I felt like I was reading a screenplay. It probably takes just as long.


Oh sure, they can't help that the SAG category listings are incredibly long-winded and needlessly long, but I can't help but begin to snooze whenever I look at them. Granted, Doubt isn't exactly a movie that screams bright colours or gee whiz imagary but much like that girl in The House Bunny (oh yes) my eyes start to glaze over every time I see these ads trying to talk me to death and smother me in text. Not even any interesting shaping (where are the five star raves in the shape of a nun's habit? WHERE?!) or play on symbolism - although the white ad to the left is a start. Incredibly disappointing, don't you think?

For Your Consideration Ad of the Week:

I love that they kept the visual style used in the initial poster campaign (and one of the best posters of 2008) and applied it to their ads. From the wonderfully quaint font and edging, to the texture of the creases and even the slight cheesiness of the photo (tourism snapshots and all). It's all wonderfully conceived and far more vibrant and interesting than whatever Frost/Nixon campaigned with this week, don't you think?

For Your Consideration Corner

Glenn here for another installment of FYC Corner. Sorry I wasn't able to do this last week, but a bout of chicken pox was playing havoc with me and I wasn't able. :( I'm sure.

Anybody who reads Stale Popcorn knows I love a great piece of poster art. Revolutionary Road broke two of my biggest pet peeves on its snooze of a poster. First, it used the tired stripe motif and second, it filled 50% or more of it's space with empty white nothingness. If your movie is a reteaming between the two stars of the highest grossing movie of all time I would think they'd be able to come up with something a bit more exciting than a film still placed on a white background, but I suppose not.

And that brings me to the FYC ads for the movie. Yet again, another dull affair, which certainly won't help the movie get attention in the season of Slumdog and Benjamin Button. No, they have decided to - yet again - go with the stripe design pattern. Even worse, they have done another version of the movie's poster as a means of campaigning for Roger Deakins' cinematography. Because "Kate and Leo standing on the lawn while sprinklers go by" screams GREAT CINEMATOGRAPHY!!


Maybe I'm just naive, but surely it isn't that hard to make a pretty ad. Plenty of other movies are able to do it. Even much smaller movies from studios with far less ad dollars can make a striking and eye-popping design. I'm not sure what it was about a movie co-starring LEONARDO DiCAPRIO and KATE WINSLET that was so uninspiring, but maybe if they'd done something a little more exciting then we wouldn't be on the verge of having this film disappear down the Oscar black hole.

For Your Consideration Ad of the Week

I don't think this ad for Australia is particularly well-done, but it relates to what I was saying earlier. If your ad is a big splurge for your cinematographer (in this case Mandy Walker) then this is the sort of image you use, not a boring image of your two stars looking bored. I know Revolutionary Road doesn't exactly have anything like this moment from Baz Luhrmann's movie, but I'm sure there are a few striking compositions to throw on an ad that would make voters go "oooh, pretty!" which, really, is what Best Cinematography is all about to this Academy branch.

The For Your Consideration Corner

Glenn here for another round of For Your Consideration ads before Christmas. All images are courtesy of Awards Daily unless otherwise noted.

As I was perusing the FYC Gallery today I was struck by something. Ron Howard's Frost/Nixon seems to be on the path to a Best Picture nomination, doesn't it? Well if that works out for the team behind the film they will have proven that one does not need a good FYC campaign to win a nomination. Oh sure, the movie has a large collection of ads appearing throughout Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, but this collage I made shows that the studio is obviously saving some coin by not hiring a art designer for their work this year.


The only ad in the film's arsenal so far that don't follow this layout is a Variety cover featuring a prominant image of Ron Howard. The phrase "I could do that!" springs to mind. I'm tempted to open up Photoshop and indeed make one myself just to prove it, but alas I can't be bothered. Aww.

I suppose they think they've already cornered the "omgfranklangellaisrichardnixon" type of voters and that there's no need to try and show off the similarities of Langella's portrayal, but poor ol' Michael Sheen getting routinely relegated to a small side box featuring him looking pensive. Why not use some images from the original theatrical production to show off how long these actors have lived with their characters? Or use images from the original Frost/Nixon tapes (now available on DVD) to show off the work that went into replicating them? Although I guess all those boxes gives off the illusion of televisual transference and speaks to the way one views life as opposed to... oh, I dunno. I can't keep up that amount of pretention for too long.

For Your Consideration Ad of the Week

ANGELINA JOLIE AND THE KINGDOM OF THE GOLDEN STATUE
(A Tale of Bloody Violence in One Act):

ANGELINA:
Give me the statue or I'll eat your face off!

UNIMPORTANT CHARACTER ACTOR:
But please... I'm a character actor!

ANGELINA:
I feed off character actors and spit them out. I need that statue and I need it now!

U.C.A.
But, please, I don't have one and I don't have a hope of ever winning one if you big famous celebrities take all the acting spots for performances that don't deserve it. I've got a family to feed too ya know!

ANGELINA:
CCLLLIIIIIIIINNTT!!

*chomp* *chomp*

Angelina devours the lowly character actor in her destructive path for more Oscar glory and carries on her merry way.

{to be continued}

For Your Consideration Corner

Glenn here again for another installment of For Your Consideration Corner. What movies are tapping my brain this week? All images sourced from Awards Daily unless otherwise noted.

Just earlier this week I discussed movies that come out of nowhere at this time of the year with misplaced hopes and dreams of Oscar. So, for this week's look at the For Your Consideration campaigns I thought I would take another trip towards this territory. Ads for these movies generally focus on specialty categories - your Best Animation Feature and acting categories mostly - because they know they're not getting anywhere near Best Picture.


One film that got my attention was The Yellow Handkerchief, which stars William Hurt and Maria Bello - a History of Violence reunion of sorts - that I had literally never heard of before. Not in festival lineups or anything, a rare thing indeed. I actually quite like the ads, resembling National Geographic magazine covers and featuring really nice images. I may never actually see The Yellow Handkerchief, but these FYC ads captured my attention. What happened to Maria Bello's career though? Time for a new agent one must think.

Some obscure animated films, too, have had ads released on their behalf. The Australian/Israeli stop-motion title $9.99 continues it's bright and colourful marketing campaign. The images being used to advertise this little movie - based on the short stories of Etgar Keret - are smart because they make it stand out from the pack of CGI titles that bombard the animation department every year. There have only ever been two claymation films submitted to the Academy and both ended up with Oscar nominations (quick, name them!) I don't necessarily expect the same for $9.99, but it's nice to imagine. Oscar winner Adam Elliot's clay feature Mary & Max is due in 2009 too, which is bound to be a major player in the Best Animated Feature category.

Another animated title is something by the name of Dragon Hunters - "With the voice of Forest Whitaker", apparently. Unfortunately the images used for this French/German co-production make it look like a Spyro the Dragon rip-off with cheap slave labor CGI and overt quirkiness. Clearly I am not - nor, I would imagine, anybody in the Academy - the target audience for this children's tale, and I suppose they're at least giving their film a fighting chance, even if they haven't got a hope. Although for all I know, Dragon Hunters is another Tekkonkinkreet, a film I saw merely because it was on last year's shortlist and ended up being quite excellent. Go figure!

For Your Consideration ad of the Week

What is there to say other than this is simply stunning and gorgeous. I haven't seen the film - obviously, we mere mortals haven't been deigned worthy enough until we've gorged ourselves with turkey and ham - but this image destills everything that the film is apparently all about. The tenderness and the visual forwardness in one elegant beautiful image.

The For Your Consideration Corner

Hi folks, Glenn (sometimes aka Kamikaze Camel - long story, don't ask) from Stale Popcorn here. Nathaniel kindly asked me to talk to you about "For Your Consideration" ads - the backbone of a well-run Oscar campaign - and that's what I'm going to do. My passion for poster art is well documented on my side of the blogosphere, and, unlike the movies themselves, you don't need to live in New York or Los Angeles to appreciate and discuss these. I should know, here in Australia the Oscar movies aren't coming as thick and fast as they are in the US of A. So come on over to the FYC Corner and look at what's making Variety and The Hollywood Reporter a lot of money, shall we?

All images are courtesy of AwardsDaily unless otherwise noted.

As the undisputed zeitgeist movie of the year, The Dark Knight is gearing up for a big Best Picture campaign and I figured it was a logical place to start. The film has already amassed a large FYC catalogue of eight (and that's just in the trades) compared to other highly-touted titles: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with three, Doubt with four and so on. Even I, not a die hard fan of the movie, must admit that the ads are by far the best looking. At least as of right now, anyway. Australia's campaign is sure to be beautiful if Fox gets off their arse and creates one, but who am I to demand such a thing? Whoever is designing these ads for Warner Bros sure does know what images to use and how.

Taking the "serious" route with the campaign, the ads for The Dark Knight are all dark and brooding. Filled with eye-catching blues, saturated blacks and searing whites. That Best Cinematography nomination for Wally Pfister is looking more and more like a possibility as more gorgeous ads get released (which, in an aside, doesn't actually mean anything in terms of whether the cinematography is worthy of a nomination, does it?) particularly when they are as eye-popping as the one of the left here.


[click to enlarge]
So pretty! If only all ads worked that well!

FYC Ad of the Week: Tropic Thunder
Yes, yes, by now it's circulated the 'net and been praised to infinity (and beyond?), but it still bares repeating.

I found this particular ad at Film School Rejects amongst other places and it's a hoot! At least somebody's having fun with their campaign!