50th Annual Cinema Audio Society Awards

The Cinema Audio Society (CAS) announced their 50th annual awards on Fenruary 22nd, 2014 with giving away the top prize to GRAVITY which makes it the only frontrunner for the Oscars now and it's certain that it will easily win this technical award. Deserving.

Last year, Les Miserables won the CAS award and it also ended up winning the Oscar for the same category. Things are going to repeat this year as well.

Here is the complete list of winners:

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Motion Picture – Live Action: GRAVITY; Production Mixer Chris Munro, CAS; Re-recording Mixers Skip Lievsay, CAS, Niv Adiri and Christopher Benstead; Scoring Mixer Gareth Cousins; ADR Mixers Chris Navarro, CAS and Thomas J. O’Connell; and Foley Mixer Adam Fil Mendez

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Motion Picture – Animated: FROZEN; Original Dialogue Mixer Gabriel Guy; Re-recording Mixers David E. Fluhr, CAS and Gabriel Guy; Scoring Mixer Casey Stone; and Foley Mixer Mary Jo Lang

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Television Movie or Mini-Series: BEHIND THE CANDELABRA; Production Mixer Dennis Towns, Re-recording Mixer Larry Blake, Scoring Mixer Thomas Vicari, and Foley Mixer Scott Curtis

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Television Series – One Hour: GAME OF THRONES (“The Rains Of Castamere”); Production Mixers Ronan Hill, CAS and Richard Dyer; Re-recording Mixers Onnalee Blank, CAS and Matthew Waters, CAS; and Foley Mixer Brett Voss

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Television Series – Half Hour: MODERN FAMILY (“Goodnight Gracie”); Production Mixer Stephen A. Tibbo; CAS and Re-recording Mixers Dean Okrand and Brian R. Harman, CAS

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Television Non Fiction, Variety or Music – Series or Specials: HISTORY OF THE EAGLES (Part One); Re-recording Mixers Tom Fleischman, CAS and Elliot Scheiner

CAS Career Achievement Award: Andy Nelson

CAS Filmmaker Award: Edward Zwick

10th CAS Technical Achievement Awards

PRODUCTION: Sound Devices, LLC – 633 Mixer/Recorder

POST-PRODUCTION: iZotope – RX 3 Advanced

85th Annual Academy Awards

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) announced its 85th annual Academy Awards on February 24th, 2013 with giving away the Best Picture award to ARGO, directed by Ben Affleck and produced by Affleck, George Clooney and Grant Heslov whereas the Best Director award went to Ang Lee for LIFE OF PI. Doesn't win anything anywhere else. Wins one of the most important awards at the Oscars. This is Ang Lee. THIS IS EPIC!

Here I must say that this was definitely one of the best ceremonies in recent years and it was a delight to watch it live and enjoy all those thrilling and surprising moments. There weren't any shocking wins BUT there was a huge surprise, that being Lee's win for Life of Pi. I have been wishing for this since the day I watched this film and it happened eventually. It should have won the Best Picture, too, not because Argo wasn't deserving but only because Life of Pi is one of the most magical films ever made, it is an achievement in modern cinema and the film of a lifetime.

Daniel Day-Lewis won his third Best Actor award (he previously won for My Left Foot in 1989 and There Will Be Blood in 2007) thus making him the only male actor who has won 3 awards.

I wanted FRANKENWEENIE to win the Best Animated Feature but all the major awards went to BRAVE, which is as stupid as it gets because it also won a Golden Globe and a BAFTA. I still think that Frankenweenie was the Best Animated Film of 2012.

Majority of the wins were pretty predictable and all of them are reasonable. A  lot of people may not agree with this but it's alright, everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

Here is the complete list of winners along with the nominations:

Best Picture:

• Lincoln


• Silver Linings Playbook


• WINNER: Argo


• Amour


• Django Unchained


• Beasts of the Southern Wild


• Life of Pi


• Zero Dark Thirty


• Les Misérables

Best Director:

• David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook)


• WINNER: Ang Lee (Life of Pi)


• Steven Spielberg (Lincoln)


• Michael Haneke (Amour)


• Behn Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild)

Best Actor:

• Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook)


• WINNER: Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln)


• Hugh Jackman (Les Misérables)


• Joaquin Phoenix (The Master)


• Denzel Washington (Flight)

Best Actress:

• Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty)


• WINNER: Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook)


• Emmanuelle Riva (Amour)


• Quvenzhané Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild)


• Naomi Watts (The Impossible)

Best Supporting Actor:

• Alan Arkin (Argo)


• Robert De Niro (Silver Linings Playbook)


• Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln)


• WINNER: Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained)


• Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master)

Best Supporting Actress:

• Amy Adams (The Master)


• Sally Field (Lincoln)


• WINNER: Anne Hathaway (Les Misérables)


• Helen Hunt (The Sessions)


• Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook)

Best Writing - Original Screenplay:

• John Gatins (Flight)


• Mark Boal (Zero Dark Thirty)


• WINNER: Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained)


• Michael Haneke (Amour)


• Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola (Moonrise Kingdom)

Best Writing - Adapted Screenplay:

• Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild)


• WINNER: Chris Terrio (Argo)


• Tony Kushner (Lincoln)


• David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook)


• David Magee (Life of Pi)

Best Animated Feature:

• Frankenweenie


• The Pirates! Band of Misfits


• Wreck-It Ralph


• ParaNorman


• WINNER: Brave

Best Foreign Language Film:

• WINNER: Amour


• Kon-Tiki


• A Royal Affair


• War Witch


• No

Best Documentary - Feature:

• 5 Broken Cameras


• The Gatekeepers


• How to Survive a Plague


• The Invisible War


• WINNER: Searching For Sugar Man

Best Documentary - Short Subject:

• WINNER: Inocente


• Kings Point


• Mondays at Racine


• Open Heart


• Redemption

Best Live Action Short Film:

• Asad


• Buzkashi Boys


• WINNER: Curfew


• Death of a Shadow


• Henry

Best Animated Short Film:

• Adam and Dog


• Fresh Guacamole


• Head over Heels


• Maggic Simpson in ‘The Longest Daycare’


• WINNER: Paperman

Best Original Score:

• Dario Marianelli (Anna Karenina)


• Alexandre Desplat (Argo)


• WINNER: Mychael Danna (Life of Pi)


• John Williams (Lincoln)


• Thomas Newman (Skyfall)

Best Original Song:

• “Before My Time” from Chasing Ice


• “Pi’s Lullaby” from Life of Pi


• “Suddenly” from Les Misérables


• “Everybody Needs a Best Friend” from Ted


• WINNER: “Skyfall” from Skyfall

Best Sound Editing (TIE):

• Argo


• Django Unchained


• Life of Pi


• WINNER: Skyfall


• WINNER: Zero Dark Thirty

Best Sound Mixing:

• Argo


• WINNER: Les Misérables


• Life of Pi


• Lincoln


• Skyfall

Best Production Design:

• Anna Karenina


• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey


• Les Misérables


• Life of Pi


• WINNER: Lincoln

Best Cinematography:

• Seamus McGarvey (Anna Karenina)


• Robert Richardson (Django Unchained)


• WINNER: Claudio Miranda (Life of Pi)


• Janusz Kaminski (Lincoln)


• Roger Deakins (Skyfall)

Best Makeup and Hairstyling:

• Hitchcock


• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey


• WINNER: Les Misérables

Best Costume Design:

• WINNER: Anna Karenina


• Les Misérables


• Lincoln


• Mirror Mirror


• Snow White and the Huntsman

Best Film Editing:

• WINNER: William Goldenberg (Argo)


• Tim Squyres (Life of Pi)


• Michael Kahn (Lincoln)


• Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers (Silver Linings Playbook)


• Dylen Tichenor and William Goldenberg (Zero Dark Thirty)

Best Visual Effects:

• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey


• WINNER: Life of Pi


• The Avengers


• Prometheus


• Snow White and the Huntsman