3rd TFO Awards PART 2: Production Design / Costume Design

The following awards are:

BEST production design – contemporary

BEST production design – period

BEST costume design – contemporary

BEST costume design – period

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Best Production Design – Contemporary

 

Drive – (PD) Beth Mickle, (SD) Lisa Sessions Morgan
The film succeeds in its visuals because it has the capability to create a world that is identifiable yet partly detached, creating a world where its narrative and characters fit and giving the film the densely moody milieu that makes the film so visually striking.

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Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close – (PD) K.K. Barrett, (SD) George DeTitta Jr.
The film is all about Oskar’s journey, emotionally and physically, taking the film into different locations that over-all paints the post-9/11 New York, a place where the air of despair and the search for resolution collide. Also, its visuals also provide us hints on how Oskar’s mind works.

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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – (PD) Donald Graham Burt, (SD) K.C. Fox, Erik Videgard
What I like about this film is its completeness in its visuals, enveloping the whole narrative with a world that is filled with minute details that help create the immensely atmospheric environment of the film.

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The Skin I Live In – (PD) Antxon Gómez, (SD) Vicente Díaz
Almodovar’s films are always visually intriguing, and this film, with all its strangeness and eccentricities, depicts his visual control of the story. The whole film works like a labyrinth of the characters and their psyche, thanks to the attention to detail of the visuals.

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Sleeping Beauty – (PD) Annie Beauchamp, (SD) Lisa Thompson
The film’s coldness and intrigue comes from how disturbing the visuals are. Its set pieces are always too classy and too polished, effectively giving the film the oddness and disquieting visuals its narrative deserves.

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And THE FINAL OSCAR goes to…

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Drive

Production design by beth Mickle
set decoration by lisa sessions morgan

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Finalists: Melancholia | Coriolanus | Contagion | The Rum Diary | Bridesmaids | Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol | Shame

Semi-Finalists: Insidious | Super 8 | Carnage | Certified Copy | X-Men: First Class | One Day | Martha Marcy May Marlene | Take Shelter

The Rest of the Field: Moneyball | The Muppets | Margin Call | We Need to Talk About Kevin | The Descendants | The Beaver | 50/50 | A Separation | Rise of the Planet of the Apes

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Best Production Design – Period

 

Anonymous – (PD) Sebastian Krawinkel, (SD) Simon Boucherie
While I really feel indifferent about the film, I just cannot discount its brilliance in recreating the Shakespearean era with a noirish quality that feels classy and bleak at the same time.

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The Artist – (PD) Laurence Bennett, (SD) Robert Gould
The film is a stunning visual experience, and the completeness of its over-all design is what makes the film such an absorbing film. Whether be it the glamorous 1920s Hollywood studios or the neglected house of George Valentin, the film scores high with its visual wholeness.

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Hugo – (PD) Dante Ferretti, (SD) Francesca Lo Schiavo
Being in that train station is already a blast, but once the narrative enters its chapter concerning George Melies and the film career he once had, it is pure visual enthrallment.

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Submarine – (PD) Gary Williamson, (SD) Cathy Cosgrove
The film mostly works from how visually appealing and in sync it is with the film’s quirkiness. Its specificity in its design plots the characters’ mindset with intricacy.

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War Horse – (PD) Rick Carter, (SD) Lee Sandales
The film employs several set pieces as the narrative traverses through different parts, from the cozy hose beside the plow field, to the military camps, bomb shelters, and the haunting No Man’s Land.

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And THE FINAL OSCAR goes to…

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Hugo

production design by dante ferretti
set decoration by francesca lo schiavo

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Finalists: Jane Eyre | Midnight in Paris | W.E. | Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy | Captain America: The First Avenger | The Help | Albert Nobbs

Semi-Finalists: My Week with Marilyn | The Tree of Life | A Dangerous Method | The Debt | J. Edgar

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Best Costume Design – Contemporary

 

Bridesmaids – Leesa Evans, Christine Wada
Before the characters wear their beautiful wedding gowns, the costumes already sprinkle a lot of information about the characters, whether be it Helen’s elitist tendencies, Becca’s pretty reserve, or Megan’s no-bullshit attitude.

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Drive – Erin Benach
Stylish and dangerous, the film populates the narrative with characters that all harbor in peril underneath the slick façade. The scorpion jacket is already a classic, but the film shows more than that.

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The Iron Lady – Consolata Boyle
Helps in establishing the fragility underneath the tough in Margaret Thatcher in pre-prime minister era, her regality and authority in her prime minister years, and the sophistication and intelligence of the old-age Thatcher.

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Margin Call – Caroline Duncan
Its characters remain in corporate attire for the entire film, but close attention to the costumes reveal the specificity of the details given to each character, defining them even more even in the quieter moments.

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Sleeping Beauty – Shareen Beringer
Those impeccably designed lingerie worn by the servants still haunt me. In the moments before the lead character goes into hibernation, the costumes work wonders in walking the very fine line between clarity and ambiguity that makes each character come of as ethereal.

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And THE FINAL OSCAR goes to…

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Drive

costume design by erin benach

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Finalists: The Rum Diary | Shame | Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol | Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close | Young Adult | The Ides of March | Coriolanus

Semi-Finalists: The Lincoln Lawyer | One Day | Carnage | The Muppets | Larry Crowne | The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo | Margaret

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Best Costume Design – Period

 

Anonymous – Lisy Christl
Works wonders in highlighting the different dimension of each character when the screenplay or even the actors go for broader strokes, never afraid to sink in the story while still standing out.

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The Artist – Mark Bridges
The transformation of the main characters are given precision even in the subtlest way: the way Peppy Miller’s clothes slowly change from her simple attires as an aspiring actress to Hollywood star in contrast with George Valentin’s descent from beloved movie star to forgotten silent film actor.

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The Help – Sharen Davis
The women of Jackson are provided with the succession of costumes that are both pleasing to the eye as well as revelatory of the characters themselves: the way Celia Foote’s sexy clothes go in contrast with the conservative but hypocritical women of the bridge club as well as the difference between Minny’s figure-hugging orange dress to Aibileen’s loosely modest yet classy red dress.

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Jane Eyre – Michael O’ Connor
The film’s organic and earthy visuals are some of the best that I have seen in this category, and the costumes have a lot to credit for that. Its costumes are both unobtrusive to the over-all vision and also crucial in the creation of the distinct visual style of the film.

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W.E. – Arianne Phillips
Its costumes strongly register because the film is lucky to have actors who have the attitude to wear those stunningly sophisticated dresses. The way the two women of different time periods both compliment and clash at the same time prove the volumes of intelligence in the costume design.

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And THE FINAL OSCAR goes to…

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W.E.

Costume Design by Arianne Phillips

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Finalists: Captain America: The First Avenger | Hugo | Midnight in Paris | War Horse | My Week with Marilyn | A Dangerous Method | Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Semi-Finalists: Albert Nobbs | Submarine | J. Edgar | The Debt

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Previous Awards Page: Animated Feature

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Next Part: AURAL CATEGORIES (Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Original Music Score, Adapted Music/Song Score, Original Song)