This year's Oscar race is shaping up to be a close one in a number of the acting categories and certainly in the best film category. And in the design categories, it would seem all the nominated designers and pictures are worthy of the statue named Oscar. If you've been following Entertainment Design's, Lighting Dimensions', and their websites' coverage of film throughout the year, you already have the scoop on the year's standout designs. We've decided to do something of an Oscar roundup, linking to the major stories we've published on the crème de la crème of film design. Below is the list of design nominees; just click on the title to go directly to an ED or LD exclusive. And check back here next week for a list of winners.
Best Cinematography
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Peter Pau)
Gladiator (John Mathieson)
Malèna (Lajos Koltai)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (Roger Deakins)
The Patriot (Caleb Deschanel)
Best Art Direction
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Tim Yip)
Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas (Michael Corenblith; set decorator, Merideth Boswell)
Gladiator (Arthur Max; set decorator, Crispian Sallis)
Quills (Martin Childs; set decorator, Jill Quertier)
Vatel (Jean Rabasse; set decorator, Francoise Benoit-Fresco)
Best Costume Design
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Tim Yip)
Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas (Rita Ryack)
Gladiator (Janty Yates)
102 Dalmatians (Anthony Powell)
Quills (Jacqueline West)
Best Makeup
The Cell (Michele Burke, Edouard Henriques)
Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas (Rick Baker, Gail Ryan)
Shadow Of The Vampire (Ann Buchanan, Amber Sibley)
Best Visual Effects
Gladiator (John Nelson, Neil Corbould, Tim Burke, Rob Harvey)
Hollow Man (Scott E. Anderson, Craig Hayes, Scott Stokdyk, Stan Parks)
The Perfect Storm (Stefen Fangmeier, Habib Zargarpour, John Frazier, Walt Conti)
Best Sound
Cast Away (Randy Thom, Tom Johnson, Dennis Sands, William B. Kaplan)
Gladiator (Scott Millan, Bob Beemer, Ken Weston)
The Patriot (Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, Lee Orloff)
The Perfect Storm (John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, David Campbell, Keith A. Wester)
U-571 (Steve Maslow, Gregg Landaker, Rick Kline, Ivan Sharrock)
Best Sound Editing
Space Cowboys (Alan Robert Murray, Bub Asman)
U-571 (Jon Johnson)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon photo on front page: Chan Kam Chuen/Sony Pictures Classics.