Oscars 101: Best Production Design

In which I run down on the nominees (and likely winners) of the Academy Awards.

Continuing our tour through the visual Oscar categories, we arrive at Best Production Design.  For this category, our nominees are:

The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Into the Woods
Mr. Turner

Now, I have already expressed my disappointment that my absolute favorite for this category, Snowpiercer, was not even nominated.  The film transformed each new train car into a completely different world: richly designed by the needs that it served to the post-apocalyptic train to which it belonged.  It seamlessly transitioned from a slum to a prison to a factory to a water processing plant to a garden to an aquarium and to a series of increasingly posh, high-end stores and lounging areas.  It not only transformed a series of uniform room into a series of incredibly vivid, fully realized world, but each was as strikingly distinct from one another as any one of the actual nominees compared to any other one.

The Grand Budapest Hotel - This is the third time that Wes Anderson's latest installment of cinematic quirk has appeared among the nominees thus far, and its nomination was equally deserved here.  The film's design is so richly textured and colored that characters and key set pieces pop boldly against the dominant pastel color scheme, creating the illusion of a children's pop-up book that is just as layered as the multi-narrator story unfolding before us.

Despite taking place in a series of increasingly posh homes and luxuriant hotels, each setting appears perfectly distinct from one another without betraying the upper class aesthetics inherent to them all.  Each is beautifully and memorably crafted, creating what is hands down the most visually striking non-science fiction film of 2014.  It is the clear front runner (and likely winner) of this category.

The Imitation Game - While much can be said of the grace, sophistication and realism of The Imitation Game's production design, there's really only one reason why it was nominated, let alone has a chance of winning, this category.  Cristopher - the breathtakingly designed Turing Machine which dominates that secret base where its creator leads a team a cryptologists to break the Nazi's secret code in World War II - is that reason.

The Turing Machine - the world's first computer - really is an absolute marvel to behold in the film: perhaps just as memorable as Cumberbatch's Oscar-nominated performance.  It not only dominates its setting in terms of sheer size and technical scale, but in terms of color as well: standing out against the uniform red-brick, unvarnished wood and matte steel of the industrial warehouse which contains it.

Interstellar - Although certainly impressive, Interstellar is by far the weakest of the Production Design nominees.  If I had to guess, I would posit that its nomination here is largely due to the visual spectacle that also earned it a Best Visual Effects nomination.  That's not to call it unworthy in of itself, but certainly not quite up to snuff when compared with fellow nominees and undeserving snubs.

That being said, the film's overall design is remarkable in the way it balances spaceship design (both interior and exterior) and terrestrial scenes of farms and secret bases.  What it lacks in terms of depth it makes up for in breadth: a multiplicity of designs compared to, say, The Imitation Game's one outstanding one.  It does, unfortunately, lose this game to The Grand Budapest Hotel, so it likely won't be going home with an Oscar in tow (at least for this category).

Into the Woods - Of the nominees, Into the Woods is perhaps the most surprising.  That's not to say that it's undeserving.  Far from it, in fact.  It has one of the best production designs of the year: between the woods (both its Lorwyn and Shadowmoor versions), the palace, Repunzel's tower, Granny's tree-bound cottage and the domestic scenes of the village.  I'm just surprised that the Academy decided to honor such fantastical fare, even in categories that lend themselves to its genre.

As things currently stand, however, there are two monumental obstacles in the film's way.  The first is the aforementioned penchant for realism, especially historical realism.  Into the Woods' genre does it absolutely no favors with the Academy, and the general uniformity of its sets, despite their quality, might make voters think that it's too one-note.  The second is Interstellar, which will more than likely split the vote there is collectively to be had for so-called "genre" films.  Given the voting body's biases, perhaps a nomination should be seen as victory enough.

Mr. Turner - Like it is in Best Costume Design, Mr. Turner is completely within its element with this nomination.  The technical branches of the Academy, although open to less reputable genres, absolutely adore historical dramas.  Reproducing an age rather than creating one out of nothing.  The Academy, as it turns out, prefers recreation to inspiration.

That's not to call the film unworthy of praise.  Quite the opposite, actually.  Mr. Turner beautifully balances domestic and natural spheres, bringing Turner's paintings to life on screen before they're ever rendered on canvas.  That technical mastery, paired with the Academy's typical preferences in such matters, gives it a more than better shot at winning later this month.

Safe Bet: The Grand Budapest Hotel

Long Shot: Mr. Turner

Longer Shot: The Imitation Game

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