Well, I had a pretty good Oscar night! I correctly picked 15 out of 19, which is a 79% success rate. Here's how it turned out (I've asterisked my correct picks):
Best Picture: The Artist*
Best Director: Michael Hazanavicius, The Artist*
Best Actor: Jean Dujardin, The Artist*
Best Actress: Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, Beginners*
Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer, The Help*
Best Original Screenplay: Midnight In Paris*
Best Adapted Screenplay: The Descendants*
Best Editing: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Best Cinematography: Hugo
Best Score: The Artist*
Best Song: "Man or Muppet" The Muppets*
Best Art Direction: Hugo*
Best Costumes: The Artist*
Best Makeup: The Iron Lady*
Best Sound: Hugo*
Best Sound Editing: Hugo*
Best Visual Effects: Hugo
Best Foreign Language Film: A Separation*
I didn't pick the Short Film, Documentary, or Animated Feature categories, but here's who won:
Documentary Feature: Undefeated
Documentary Short: Saving Face
Live Action Short: The Shore
Animated Short: The Fantastic Flying books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
Animated Feature: Rango
I probably could have picked Rango, but all the others would have ruined my average. I dodged a bullet there.
It was a good show - Billy Crystal never disappoints and it moved quick. Tributes and montages were kept to a minimum, there were no musical performances, and the thing Cirque Du Soleil was entertaining. It was a lean, entertaining show. I had fun this year, even without writing a series of long blog posts. I can't wait for next year's Oscar season where, no doubt, I will be rooting for The Hobbit.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Oscars 2012
Oscar Night is my favorite holiday of the year and I usually celebrate online by writing in-depth reviews of the Best Picture nominees and explaining my picks in exacting detail here on the blog. A lot of work and thought goes into the process ever year, but I've had this conversation too many times:
Friend: "So what do you think of the Oscars this year, Doug?"
Me: "I've been publishing all of my opinions and picks online for the last month. Haven't you been reading my blog?"
Friend: "No."
As much as I love writing them, the exhaustive string of blog posts just doesn't get read and all anyone really wants to hear about is who is going to win. So here are my final picks for this year's Academy Awards:
Best Picture: The Artist
Best Director: Michael Hazanavicius, The Artist
Best Actor: Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Best Actress: Viola Davis, The Help
Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer, The Help
Best Original Screenplay: Midnight In Paris
Best Adapted Screenplay: The Descendants
Best Editing: The Artist
Best Cinematography: Tree of Life
Best Score: The Artist
Best Song: "Man or Muppet" The Muppets
Best Art Direction: Hugo
Best Costumes: The Artist
Best Makeup: The Iron Lady
Best Sound: Hugo
Best Sound Editing: Hugo
Best Visual Effects: Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Best Foreign Language Film: A Separation
As always, I don't pick documentaries or short films, because I don't get to see most of them during the year and can't make an informed decision. This year, the same goes for Animated Feature, a category which features two films that have yet to get wide release and (for the first time since the category was established) no Pixar entry. I feel surest about the Actresses, least secure about the technical awards, and am pretty sure that The Artist will charm its way to the top spot and receive five other awards, but not Best Original Screenplay. The movie with the most nominations, Hugo, is also a marketing nightmare and will walk away with a respectable three statuettes.
Several prognosticators predict a win for George Clooney, but I think Jean Dujardin will be named Best Actor. The closest we have to a lock this year is Christopher Plummer for Supporting Actor.
I'm making some pretty daring picks this year in other categories. The visuals in Hugo blew me away, but I think Tree of Life's artistic camera work will impress voters more and will win the Cinematography prize. Harry Potter 7b was last year's highest-grossing movie, but I'm predicting that Planet of the Apes will best it for Visual Effects and The Iron Lady's prestige will vault it ahead of Potter for Best Makeup. I usually don't pick a Foreign Language film, but I'm taking a guarded chance this year with Iran's A Separation, which is the clear favorite.
We can all see how my predictions pan out on Sunday, February 26. Tune in to ABC at 7pm EST for the red carpet (or E! will have coverage all day if you want an early start).
Friend: "So what do you think of the Oscars this year, Doug?"
Me: "I've been publishing all of my opinions and picks online for the last month. Haven't you been reading my blog?"
Friend: "No."
As much as I love writing them, the exhaustive string of blog posts just doesn't get read and all anyone really wants to hear about is who is going to win. So here are my final picks for this year's Academy Awards:
Best Picture: The Artist
Best Director: Michael Hazanavicius, The Artist
Best Actor: Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Best Actress: Viola Davis, The Help
Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer, The Help
Best Original Screenplay: Midnight In Paris
Best Adapted Screenplay: The Descendants
Best Editing: The Artist
Best Cinematography: Tree of Life
Best Score: The Artist
Best Song: "Man or Muppet" The Muppets
Best Art Direction: Hugo
Best Costumes: The Artist
Best Makeup: The Iron Lady
Best Sound: Hugo
Best Sound Editing: Hugo
Best Visual Effects: Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Best Foreign Language Film: A Separation
As always, I don't pick documentaries or short films, because I don't get to see most of them during the year and can't make an informed decision. This year, the same goes for Animated Feature, a category which features two films that have yet to get wide release and (for the first time since the category was established) no Pixar entry. I feel surest about the Actresses, least secure about the technical awards, and am pretty sure that The Artist will charm its way to the top spot and receive five other awards, but not Best Original Screenplay. The movie with the most nominations, Hugo, is also a marketing nightmare and will walk away with a respectable three statuettes.
Several prognosticators predict a win for George Clooney, but I think Jean Dujardin will be named Best Actor. The closest we have to a lock this year is Christopher Plummer for Supporting Actor.
I'm making some pretty daring picks this year in other categories. The visuals in Hugo blew me away, but I think Tree of Life's artistic camera work will impress voters more and will win the Cinematography prize. Harry Potter 7b was last year's highest-grossing movie, but I'm predicting that Planet of the Apes will best it for Visual Effects and The Iron Lady's prestige will vault it ahead of Potter for Best Makeup. I usually don't pick a Foreign Language film, but I'm taking a guarded chance this year with Iran's A Separation, which is the clear favorite.
We can all see how my predictions pan out on Sunday, February 26. Tune in to ABC at 7pm EST for the red carpet (or E! will have coverage all day if you want an early start).
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Sales Statement 2011 (Part 2)
As I mentioned in Part 1, my foreign sales make up just a tiny percentage of my annual total. But it's still interesting to see what sells. Here are my top five foreign sales of scores with parts in 2011:
1. Sneaking Suspicion
2. Gargoyles & Star of Valor (tie)
3. Quicksilver
4. Avatar, Gauntlet, Hot Potato, Porcupine Pantomime (all tied)
5. Lemon Twist and Storm Trail (tie)
The new ones are popular and some of the old favorites made the list, but a lot of these entries are surprises. Sneaking Suspicion seems to be a breakaway hit overseas.
Alfred Publishing also sells scores alone, without the parts. You'd need extra scores to give the judges at contests, so the best-sellers on this list are the ones that are popular at contest season:
1. Gautlet
2. Gargoyles
3. Avatar
4. Las Mariposas Exoticas
5. Crusader
No surprises here. Except maybe for Mariposas - I suppose that explains its resurgence in the score-and-parts list.
Again, if you bought anything of mine in the past year, thanks very much!
1. Sneaking Suspicion
2. Gargoyles & Star of Valor (tie)
3. Quicksilver
4. Avatar, Gauntlet, Hot Potato, Porcupine Pantomime (all tied)
5. Lemon Twist and Storm Trail (tie)
The new ones are popular and some of the old favorites made the list, but a lot of these entries are surprises. Sneaking Suspicion seems to be a breakaway hit overseas.
Alfred Publishing also sells scores alone, without the parts. You'd need extra scores to give the judges at contests, so the best-sellers on this list are the ones that are popular at contest season:
1. Gautlet
2. Gargoyles
3. Avatar
4. Las Mariposas Exoticas
5. Crusader
No surprises here. Except maybe for Mariposas - I suppose that explains its resurgence in the score-and-parts list.
Again, if you bought anything of mine in the past year, thanks very much!
Monday, December 19, 2011
Two Years Wasted
Oh, Internets. Let my tell you a sad story of sadness.
As I've mentioned a few times on this blog, I've been working on a new opera. It's been two years of slow, meticulous work, coming up with over an hour of music and all the lyrics. I'm really proud of what I've done and I think it might be one of the better things I've ever written. The whole piece is 98% done - I just need to work out a few of the musical transitions between scenes and that will take about a week.
And then I heard just this morning that someone has written a musical with the exact same setting, themes, and a very similar plot that's going to be produced next year, with strong hopes of a Broadway run.
And I just died a little.
So I'm weighing my options. Part of me wants to put in that last week of work, like an exhausted and broken marathon runner getting carried over the finish line to achieve a sense of closure. I'd then print it out, put it in a binder, and it would sit on a shelf next to my first opera, unproduced forever. Another part of me just wants to burn it all and scream to the sky as loud as I can. I've considered making drastic revisions to my piece, but I don't know where I'd start. The music is very specific to the setting and would be difficult to adapt.
The fact is, that the two pieces are going to be very different, but even though each was created without the knowledge of the other, comparisons will be made and I will likely lose any battle of opinions.
Woe is me, Internets. Weep for the weary artist.
As I've mentioned a few times on this blog, I've been working on a new opera. It's been two years of slow, meticulous work, coming up with over an hour of music and all the lyrics. I'm really proud of what I've done and I think it might be one of the better things I've ever written. The whole piece is 98% done - I just need to work out a few of the musical transitions between scenes and that will take about a week.
And then I heard just this morning that someone has written a musical with the exact same setting, themes, and a very similar plot that's going to be produced next year, with strong hopes of a Broadway run.
And I just died a little.
So I'm weighing my options. Part of me wants to put in that last week of work, like an exhausted and broken marathon runner getting carried over the finish line to achieve a sense of closure. I'd then print it out, put it in a binder, and it would sit on a shelf next to my first opera, unproduced forever. Another part of me just wants to burn it all and scream to the sky as loud as I can. I've considered making drastic revisions to my piece, but I don't know where I'd start. The music is very specific to the setting and would be difficult to adapt.
The fact is, that the two pieces are going to be very different, but even though each was created without the knowledge of the other, comparisons will be made and I will likely lose any battle of opinions.
Woe is me, Internets. Weep for the weary artist.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Sales Statement 2011 (Part 1)
I got my annual sales statement from Alfred Publishing recently! When I first started getting these, they were listings of how many copies each piece of published music was sold that year and, while that's the same basic principle for current statements, there are major changes from those early days. Now, each piece of music is available in multiple forms: Score and parts, score alone, parts alone, digital parts downloaded through SmartMusic, digital score downloaded through SmartMusic, print licensing, mechanical licensing, and photocopy licensing. Then all of those are divided into domestic sales (inside the U.S.) and foreign sales (everywhere else), meaning that each of my published works has a potential for 16 revenue streams.
To be honest, though, each of those revenue streams accounts for very little on its own. My foreign sales are a fraction of a fraction of my domestic sales and only one honest director paid Alfred after making photocopies like he's supposed to do. But those few dollars here and there accumulate and, added to sales of scores and parts (which make up the bulk of the sales), they added up to a significant increase in overall sales from last year. So if you bought something of mine this year, thank you!
Now comes the fun part: discovering which were my best sellers of the year. Here are my top five best selling folios of scores and parts (domestic sales):
1. Avatar
2. Gauntlet & Sneaking Suspicion (tie)
3. Gargoyles
4. Las Mariposas Exoticas
5. Agincourt
Avatar was last year's number-one seller as well and I credited that to people mistaking my piece for the soundtrack to James Cameron's 2009 movie. I suppose this either means that people haven't caught on yet or they really like my piece. Gauntlet and Gargoyles always seem to make the top five and Sneaking Suspicion did well, mostly because it's brand new. Star of Valor and Storm Trail were also new and had respectable numbers, but didn't crack the top five. Agincourt stays strong, but this year's surprise is the resurgence of Mariposas. It's an older piece that usually stays in the middle of the pack, but has rallied for some reason this year.
Overall, it was a good year! I'll have more information and top five lists in a later post.
To be honest, though, each of those revenue streams accounts for very little on its own. My foreign sales are a fraction of a fraction of my domestic sales and only one honest director paid Alfred after making photocopies like he's supposed to do. But those few dollars here and there accumulate and, added to sales of scores and parts (which make up the bulk of the sales), they added up to a significant increase in overall sales from last year. So if you bought something of mine this year, thank you!
Now comes the fun part: discovering which were my best sellers of the year. Here are my top five best selling folios of scores and parts (domestic sales):
1. Avatar
2. Gauntlet & Sneaking Suspicion (tie)
3. Gargoyles
4. Las Mariposas Exoticas
5. Agincourt
Avatar was last year's number-one seller as well and I credited that to people mistaking my piece for the soundtrack to James Cameron's 2009 movie. I suppose this either means that people haven't caught on yet or they really like my piece. Gauntlet and Gargoyles always seem to make the top five and Sneaking Suspicion did well, mostly because it's brand new. Star of Valor and Storm Trail were also new and had respectable numbers, but didn't crack the top five. Agincourt stays strong, but this year's surprise is the resurgence of Mariposas. It's an older piece that usually stays in the middle of the pack, but has rallied for some reason this year.
Overall, it was a good year! I'll have more information and top five lists in a later post.
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