When watching movies at the local movie theatre or on one of your many big screen TV’s at home, most Americans take for granted important aspects of creating such a production.  Consider the writing, acting, cinematography, sound effects, visual effects, editing, music and hair and makeup.

Admittedly, I can honestly say that at age 42 I rarely watch movies. It is on a much rarer occasion that I actually watch award shows. This year was different.

This year I watched five of the eight movies nominated for the 88^th Academy Awards’ Best Picture: Spotlight, Bridge of Spies, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian and The Revenant.  Although I watched these movies for personal entertainment purposes, I, like many people watching, had a different perspective.

In recent years, I’ve transitioned my company to offering not only PR and Media Relations services, and Event Management services, but also Video Production Services. And, in transitioning from the behind the scenes cameraman into a producer role, I have taken a much more critical look when watching movies, viewing those movies through a different lens.

I now look at movies with a more curious and constructive view with a simple question in mind, ‘How can I produce that?’

That simple question of ‘How can I produce that?’ inspires me to seek answers in new ways.  From educating myself from a technical standpoint, to equipping myself with the needed equipment, and understanding what I can and cannot do internally, the videos I produce have steadily gotten better over time.

So, as I watched the 88^th Academy Awards, I reflected on the winners and the losers, as well as all those behind the scenes that make it possible to produce a visual story that gets recognized.

With the mass distribution and ease of access to digital videography tools and additional production tools, get ready to see more producers like myself pushing the envelope to develop better content, to establish a better product and to start winning awards for it!

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

WINNER

LEONARDO DICAPRIO

The Revenant

NOMINEES

BRYAN CRANSTON

Trumbo

MATT DAMON

The Martian

MICHAEL FASSBENDER

Steve Jobs

EDDIE REDMAYNE

The Danish Girl

 

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

WINNER

MARK RYLANCE

Bridge of Spies

NOMINEES

CHRISTIAN BALE

The Big Short

TOM HARDY

The Revenant

MARK RUFFALO

Spotlight

SYLVESTER STALLONE

Creed

 

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

WINNER

BRIE LARSON

Room

NOMINEES

CATE BLANCHETT

Carol

JENNIFER LAWRENCE

Joy

CHARLOTTE RAMPLING

45 Years

SAOIRSE RONAN

Brooklyn

 

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

WINNER

ALICIA VIKANDER

The Danish Girl

NOMINEES

JENNIFER JASON LEIGH

The Hateful Eight

ROONEY MARA

Carol

RACHEL MCADAMS

Spotlight

KATE WINSLET

Steve Jobs

 

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

WINNER

INSIDE OUT

Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera

NOMINEES

ANOMALISA

Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson and Rosa Tran

BOY AND THE WORLD

Alê Abreu

SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE

Mark Burton and Richard Starzak

WHEN MARNIE WAS THERE

Hiromasa Yonebayashi and Yoshiaki Nishimura

 

BEST PICTURE

WINNER

SPOTLIGHT

Michael Sugar, Steve Golin, Nicole Rocklin and Blye Pagon Faust, Producers

NOMINEES

THE BIG SHORT

Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, Producers

BRIDGE OF SPIES

Steven Spielberg, Marc Platt and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers

BROOKLYN

Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

Doug Mitchell and George Miller, Producers

THE MARTIAN

Simon Kinberg, Ridley Scott, Michael Schaefer and Mark Huffam, Producers

THE REVENANT

Arnon Milchan, Steve Golin, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Mary Parent and Keith Redmon, Producers

ROOM

Ed Guiney, Producer

 

CINEMATOGRAPHY

WINNER

THE REVENANT

Emmanuel Lubezki

NOMINEES

CAROL

Ed Lachman

THE HATEFUL EIGHT

Robert Richardson

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

John Seale

SICARIO

Roger Deakins

 

COSTUME DESIGN

WINNER

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

Jenny Beavan

NOMINEES

CAROL

Sandy Powell

CINDERELLA

Sandy Powell

THE DANISH GIRL

Paco Delgado

THE REVENANT

Jacqueline West

 

DIRECTING

WINNER

THE REVENANT

Alejandro G. Iñárritu

NOMINEES

THE BIG SHORT

Adam McKay

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

George Miller

ROOM

Lenny Abrahamson

SPOTLIGHT

Tom McCarthy

 

FILM EDITING

WINNER

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

Margaret Sixel

NOMINEES

THE BIG SHORT

Hank Corwin

THE REVENANT

Stephen Mirrione

SPOTLIGHT

Tom McArdle

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

Maryann Brandon and Mary Jo Markey

 

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

WINNER

SON OF SAUL

Hungary

NOMINEES

EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT

Colombia

MUSTANG

France

THEEB

Jordan

A WAR

Denmark

 

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

WINNER

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardega and Damian Martin

NOMINEES

THE 100-YEAR-OLD MAN WHO CLIMBED OUT THE WINDOW AND DISAPPEARED

Love Larson and Eva von Bahr

THE REVENANT

Siân Grigg, Duncan Jarman and Robert Pandini

 

PRODUCTION DESIGN

WINNER

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

Production Design: Colin Gibson; Set Decoration: Lisa Thompson

NOMINEES

BRIDGE OF SPIES

Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Rena DeAngelo and Bernhard Henrich

THE DANISH GIRL

Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Michael Standish

THE MARTIAN

Production Design: Arthur Max; Set Decoration: Celia Bobak

THE REVENANT

Production Design: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Hamish Purdy

 

SOUND EDITING

WINNER

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

Mark Mangini and David White

NOMINEES

THE MARTIAN

Oliver Tarney

THE REVENANT

Martin Hernandez and Lon Bender

SICARIO

Alan Robert Murray

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

Matthew Wood and David Acord

 

SOUND MIXING

WINNER

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff and Ben Osmo

NOMINEES

BRIDGE OF SPIES

Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Drew Kunin

THE MARTIAN

Paul Massey, Mark Taylor and Mac Ruth

THE REVENANT

Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, Randy Thom and Chris Duesterdiek

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

Andy Nelson, Christopher Scarabosio and Stuart Wilson

 

VISUAL EFFECTS

WINNER

EX MACHINA

Andrew Whitehurst, Paul Norris, Mark Ardington and Sara Bennett

NOMINEES

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

Andrew Jackson, Tom Wood, Dan Oliver and Andy Williams

THE MARTIAN

Richard Stammers, Anders Langlands, Chris Lawrence and Steven Warner

THE REVENANT

Rich McBride, Matthew Shumway, Jason Smith and Cameron Waldbauer

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan and Chris Corbould

 

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

WINNER

THE HATEFUL EIGHT

Ennio Morricone

NOMINEES

BRIDGE OF SPIES

Thomas Newman

CAROL

Carter Burwell

SICARIO

Jóhann Jóhannsson

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS

John Williams

 

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)

WINNER

SPOTLIGHT

Written by Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy

NOMINEES

BRIDGE OF SPIES

Written by Matt Charman and Ethan Coen & Joel Coen

EX MACHINA

Written by Alex Garland

INSIDE OUT

Screenplay by Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley; Original story by Pete Docter, Ronnie del Carmen

STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON

Screenplay by Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff; Story by S. Leigh Savidge & Alan Wenkus and Andrea Berloff

 

DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT)

WINNER

A GIRL IN THE RIVER: THE PRICE OF FORGIVENESS

Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

NOMINEES

BODY TEAM 12

David Darg and Bryn Mooser

CHAU, BEYOND THE LINES

Courtney Marsh and Jerry Franck

CLAUDE LANZMANN: SPECTRES OF THE SHOAH

Adam Benzine

LAST DAY OF FREEDOM

Dee Hibbert-Jones and Nomi Talisman

 

DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)

WINNER

AMY

Asif Kapadia and James Gay-Rees

NOMINEES

CARTEL LAND

Matthew Heineman and Tom Yellin

THE LOOK OF SILENCE

Joshua Oppenheimer and Signe Byrge Sørensen

WHAT HAPPENED, MISS SIMONE?

Liz Garbus, Amy Hobby and Justin Wilkes

WINTER ON FIRE: UKRAINE’S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM

Evgeny Afineevsky and Den Tolmor

 

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)

WINNER

BEAR STORY

Gabriel Osorio and Pato Escala

NOMINEES

PROLOGUE

Richard Williams and Imogen Sutton

SANJAY’S SUPER TEAM

Sanjay Patel and Nicole Grindle

WE CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT COSMOS

Konstantin Bronzit

WORLD OF TOMORROW

Don Hertzfeldt

 

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)

WINNER

STUTTERER

Benjamin Cleary and Serena Armitage

NOMINEES

AVE MARIA

Basil Khalil and Eric Dupont

DAY ONE

Henry Hughes

EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY (ALLES WIRD GUT)

Patrick Vollrath

SHOK

Jamie Donoughue

 

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)

WINNER

SPECTRE

“Writing’s On The Wall” from Spectre; Music and Lyric by Jimmy Napes and Sam Smith

NOMINEES

FIFTY SHADES OF GREY

“Earned It” from Fifty Shades of Grey; Music and Lyric by The Weeknd, Ahmad Balshe, Jason Quenneville and Stephan Moccio

RACING EXTINCTION

“Manta Ray” from Racing Extinction; Music by J. Ralph, Lyric by Anohni

YOUTH

“Simple Song #3” from Youth; Music and Lyric by David Lang

THE HUNTING GROUND

“Til It Happens To You” from The Hunting Ground; Music and Lyric by Diane Warren and Lady Gaga

 

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)

WINNER

THE BIG SHORT

Screenplay by Charles Randolph and Adam McKay

NOMINEES

BROOKLYN

Screenplay by Nick Hornby

CAROL

Screenplay by Phyllis Nagy

THE MARTIAN

Screenplay by Drew Goddard

ROOM

Screenplay by Emma Donoghue