Oscar Bosses Announce Rule Changes
Oscar bosses have approved new rule changes which will enable five films to compete for the Best Visual Effects Academy Award, instead of three.
The governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have decided that 1996 rules which limited the category to three nominees are outdated.
Visual effects are now playing a bigger part in movies, the multiple Oscar nominated Avatar being a great example. But there has only ever been three nominees the category since 1996.
In another tweak, the eligibility for Best Animated Feature Film nominees has been reduced from 70 minutes to 40 minutes. As a result, a film that runs less than an hour can now qualify for Academy Awards consideration.
The revised rule now reads: "An animated feature film is defined as a motion picture with a running time of greater than 40 minutes, in which movement and characters’ performances are created using a frame-by-frame technique.
"Motion capture by itself is not an animation technique. In addition, a significant number of the major characters must be animated, and animation must figure in no less than 75 percent of the picture’s running time."
Next year's (11) Oscars, which will include the new rules, will take place in Hollywood on 27 February (11).
Tagged in The Oscars