google ad sense 728 x 90

Focus Grouping The Wizard of Oz - The Sketch From The Oscars.




The brilliant sketch of a 1939 focus group, made up of many of the cast of Best In Show; Christopher Guest, Eugene Levy, Fred Willard, Catherine O'Hara and Jennifer Coolidge, discussing The Wizard of Oz and the 'Rainbow' song was one of the funniest moments of the telecast.

The 20 Best Academy Award and Oscars Infographics in One Place.




From Social Media predictions, fashion trends, media spending and statistics to fun trivia and history, here's a round up of 20 the best and most interesting infographics pertaining to the Academy Award and Oscar.

Click on each infographic below to enlarge them in a separate window.

If Social Media Could Predict Oscar Winners
Behind the scenes at the Academy Awards
Women at the Oscars: 22 Years 220 Dresses

Oscars Infographic - Media Buying for the 2012 Academy Awards
Infographic: All about Oscar and the Academy Awards

Everything you wanted to know about the Oscars (infographic)


above: detail from IMDB infographic

More infographics (click to view larger in a separate window):


Vulture has a clever infographics for each Best Picture Nominee:



See all the Best Picture nominee infographics from Vulture here


The Face Group did some Augmented Research (above and below) with various infographics as they added variables:

Check that out here.

Slate has a an interactive infographic about The Oscar Acceptance speeches and who gets thanks the most:

There's even an infographic for an Oscar drinking game:


Infographic Credits:
IMDB
flowtown
facegroup
webtrends
Banyan Branch
US Dish
Radian6
Locate TV
Slate
Vulture
Waggeneredstrom
WayToBlue
Drinking game infographic by James A Janisse.
Other sources mentioned within the infographics.

How Oscar Is Made & Other Cool Facts and Trivia About The Academy Award Statuette.





infographic source: LiveScience

In honor of tonight's 84rd Annual Academy Awards, here's a look at how the coveted statuette is actually made, from start to finish.



The exterior of R.S. Owens in Chicago:


Casting, Buffing and polishing:



The metal is heated to 960 degrees before pouring into the cast.

The Oscar, removed from the cast, and ready to be polished and buffed:

The rough seams are sanded:

And the statue is polished:



Electroplating:


being dipped into the nickel (the second step, it's first dipped into copper):

Dipped into the 24k plate, the fourth step (the third step is dipped into silver):




Engraving and Mounting:


Affixing the engraved plate to the base:

a close up look at base:

Placing the felt pad on the base:




Oscar Fun Facts:

• The official name of the statuette is the Academy Award® of Merit

• Oscar is 13½ inches tall and weighs 8½ pounds

• The First Recipient was Emil Jannings, named Best Actor for his performances in “The Last Command” and “The Way of All Flesh” in 1929

• Number of Awards Presented to date as of 2011: 2,809 statuettes



• It was designed by Cedric Gibbons, chief art director at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and sculpted by Los Angeles artist George Stanley.

• The Oscar statuette depicts a knight holding a crusader's sword, standing on a reel of film. The film reel features five spokes, signifying the five original branches of the Academy (actors, directors, producers, technicians and writers.)

• How Oscar received his nickname is not exactly clear.
The most popular story is that Margaret Herrick, an Academy librarian and eventual executive director, remarked that the statuette resembled her Uncle Oscar, and the Academy staff began to refer to it as Oscar. Although the nickname was used with increasing frequency during the late 1930s, the Academy didn't officially use the name Oscar until 1939.

• The Oscar statuette hasn't been altered since his molten birth, except when the design of the pedestal was made taller in 1945.

Billy Crystal will be hosting tonight's telecast. Below is a video of some of his best Oscar moments:
Click on the image below to see this year's complete list of nominees • And here is a look at the scheduled events for the evening. • Official Oscar site. images and info courtesy of the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Please donate

C'mon people, it's only a dollar.