Live Poll: Face-Off: Special Oscars - Yes or No?

Thanks, for the comment, I think I needed to be clearer. It is about having the option to make awards in special circumstances, and less about this specific case, despite "The Planet of Apes" theme.  I made some changes, based on your feedback.

Thanks, I appreciate the feedback, I like the rule. It has the qualities that I would be looking for: a catch-all aspect, flexibility to be given and the 2/3 vote makes it hard to give out often.

What is the difference between that award and the Special Achievement Academy Award that was discontinued in 1995, but given out 17 times in 23 years? If they are the same, it seems like they went from one extreme to another, handing it out too often to never. Did they raise the voting threshold to make it harder to get? It is hard to believe that there hasn't been one exceptional circumstance  or ground-breaking achievement in the past quarter century to make such an award.

As for the recent editorial in Variety by their Awards Editor, calling for the revival of the Special Achievement Oscar Award. His word choice is interesting using "revamp" and "dust off", as well as well as the different meaning, "defunct"and "discontinued" to describe it. The rule book you cite seems pretty clear, less so for wikipedia and Variety.

Urban: I happen to have a copy of the Academy's rule book for 1995. (This was before the Oscar rules were published on the Internet -- I wrote a letter to the Academy and they sent me their current year's rule book in the mail.)

As of 1995, the Special Achievement Award rule was as follows:

SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD (Statuette): shall be given at such times as in the judgment of the Board of Governors there is an achievement which makes an exceptional contribution to the motion picture for which it was created, but for which there is no annual award category. Such awards shall only be conferred, however, for achievements in productions which also qualify under Rule One.

(Rule One refers to the rule which limits Oscar eligibility to films that made their debut in a movie theater in Los Angeles County during the calendar year.)

The main difference in the Special Achievement Award rules I can see is that the Academy didn't always require a 2/3 vote of the Board of Governors to give a Special Achievement Award, as it does now.

However, there have been some changes in other categories that would affect the Special Achievement Award. In 1995, it was possible for there to be a Special Achievement Award for Makeup, Sound Effects Editing, or Visual Effects, if the committees that administered those awards believed there was only one deserving nominee in a given year. That can't happen under the current rules. Under the current rules, there must be three nominees per year in Makeup and Hairstyling (the current name of the Makeup category), and five nominees per year in Sound Editing (which replaced Sound Effects Editing) and Visual Effects.

And, as it happened, of the 18 Special Achievement Awards given between 1972 and 1995, here is how they break down by type of achievement:

Visual Effects (9): The Poseidon Adventure, Earthquake, The Hindenburg, King Kong, Logan's Run, Superman, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Total Recall

Sound Effects (1): The Hindenburg
Sound Effects Editing (4): Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The River, RoboCop
Sound Editing (1): The Black Stallion
Other sound-related things (1): Star Wars ("for the creation of the alien, creature and robot voices")

Animation-related things (2): Who Framed Roger Rabbit (animation direction), Toy Story ("for ... inspired leadership of the Pixar Toy Story team, resulting in the first feature-length computer-animated film")

So now that we have a Best Animated Feature category too, everything that fell into the Special Achievement Award from 1972 to 1995 would presumably fall into a competitive category today.

That doesn't mean that everything that could possibly deserve an award has a competitive Oscar category, of course. For example, the Andy Serkis performance that kicked off this discussion might be best honored with a Special Achievement Award honoring the multiple people who brought it to life. Or the Academy might choose to give a Special Achievement Award for choreography if there was a film with outstanding dance scenes.

And that's all I have to say about that, at least for now.

gromit82, Champion,

Thanks for all your assistance, information and feedback in helping me to understand the Special Achievement Academy Award rule changes and the factors that led up to it.

Thanks for the comment. I thought you might be interested in this related article.

Andy Serkis vs. Visual Effects Animators: The Wrong Fight for Both Sides
http://variety.com/2014/film/columns/andy-serkis-vs-visual-effects-animators-the-wrong-fight-for-both-sides-1201260274/

I'd defend Serkis' "digital makeup" label, and to be fair I think that the effects team needs an Oscar as well. 

Take John Chamber's makeup for the original 1968 Planet of the Apes movie. He created these fantastic masks that allow the actors to emote and perform excellently. But the masks aren't delivering the performances, the actors are. Chamber's work is Oscar-worthy (it actually did win an Oscar), but he didn't create the performances. Rather, he created a medium for performances to go through.

And that's what the special effects team does in my view, they create the medium for the performance. Because, if you took all of the effects off of Serkis, you'd still have a genuinely riveting performance. Both groups need Oscars, rather than clawing at a single one.

Well said.

Also, "crowning achievement", not "crowing".

I am still convinced that they need to make some changes to make the award more possible. It sounds like there is a groundswell of support for the movie in the visual effects community. A Best Visual Effects Oscar may happen for the film, but Blade Runner 2049 seems to be the favorite. Blade Runner may even a better total visual effects package as visual effects go. But, it is a shame that innovations and excellence within motion capture domain will go unrecognized. Especially, if a majority of Academy members agreed, a special Oscar couldn't be given unless a special meeting was called and 2/3 of the Board of Governors agreed. Making the award so difficult to give, that it is never given, is the same as not having it as option at all. The topic maybe a bit much for a poll.

Corrections Made Special Oscars - Yes or No?
A recent editorial in Variety calls for the revival of the Special Achievement Oscar. The award gives the flexibility to recognize achievements of extraordinary excellence that don't fit into an existing category or warrant special consideration. Academy Awards rule changes in 1995 made it more difficult to award. Since then, it hasn't been awarded once in the past quarter century.

The editorial's catalyst was what it calls a crowning achievement, Caesar's performance in War for the Planet of the Apes (2017). Variety specifically cited the combined effort of Andy Serkis, "talented artisans behind the scenes who ... helped bring his performances to life" and cutting-edge motion-capture technology, as proof that the award needs to be utilized more. The editorial said "at a time when technology and ingenuity are changing the nature of cinema at a dizzying rate", there is a clear present and future need for the award.

Do you agree that the Special Achievement Oscar should be utilized more often to recognize worthy achievements that don't fit into any or one existing category?

Done.

Thanks for your help and feedback in getting the poll right.

Ah, that's so nice of you -- especially because all I did was catch a typo. :)  I do really like the communal aspect of the poll board, though, and thank goodness that we catch each other's typos and other mistakes: I went through a period, just recently, when I kept forgetting to add links back to the discussion threads from lists I had made for polls (after three and a half years of making polls, lol) and Jess patiently reminded me about a half dozen times. Anyway, you're welcome and 'right back at ya for your help with many of my polls.