Nominations for the awards

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Ken Wilson
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Joined: Mon Jan 29, 2007 11:17 pm

Nominations for the awards

Post by Ken Wilson »

I seem to remember that a few years ago we had discussions on the forum about learning of the top nominations for the various awards. I don`t know what happened to that thread, though clearly it was not implemented. As today will be the Oscars in Hollywood where the nominees are announced in each category before we learn of the actual winners, it reminded me that we had discussed something similar on here as a possible addition for our own BIAFF. Naturally there is only one winner for each of the top awards, but for many, just knowing that they may have reached a position where they have been considered for an award is enough.
I don`t know the actual selection process only what I was once told, that first round judges put forward their suggestions if they think a film excels in a particular category. This would mean that there is a short list from which the final round judges select their winners. So as with BAFTA and the Oscars, it would be good to hear what the final "nominees" were. What do others think?
Michael Slowe
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Re: Nominations for the awards

Post by Michael Slowe »

Well Ken, it works much as the old Ten Best used to work. Judges look at all the films, in groups in the case of BIAFF, and after discussion a film is graded. The grades at this stage are four and below. If a Five or better is considered more appropriate then the film is set aside for consideration by the final judges. Sometimes however the final judges may decide that a Five or better is not merited so it stays at Four.
At least that's how it used to work and I believe still does. Presumably the top award winners will have been informed by now and I'm expecting Four or lower for my two. I'm generally accurate in my own assessments and have hardly ever been surprised over the course of forty eight years of Ten Bests and BIAFFs!

As for your 'nominations' suggestion, I think that it would complicate the whole process and make it rather cumbersome. Poor old David Newman has his hands quite full enough with running the current system.
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Howard-Smith
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Re: Nominations for the awards

Post by Howard-Smith »

As one of the first round judges, I can comment on one or two issues touched on by Michael Slowe.
Judging took place last weekend. The major winners won’t be told of their results any earlier than anyone else; everyone will receive their results during the week beginning 25th March.
First round judges, in groups of three, award ratings from 1 to 5 stars. With regard to films with a unanimous verdict of 5 stars from the judges, the finals judges can’t demote such films to a lower award.
If only one or two of the team of three judges deem a film to be worth 5 stars, it’s then up to the finals judges to decide whether it’s a 5 star or a 4 star film.
The finals judges then decide which of the 5 star films are the BEST EIGHT films and these are then upgraded to a Diamond Award. Of course they then have to choose the “Best British Film” and the “Best Film” the latter of which gets the Daily Mail trophy and a cash prize.
The finals judges also have to choose which films get the special individual awards such as best documentary, best acting, best story, best photography and so on.
With regard to the idea of announcing who was nominated for these awards, as in the Oscars, I personally would like this to happen, but I have to agree with Michael that it’s almost certainly too much to expect David Newman to take on the extra work of compiling such lists. He has a phenomenal amount of work to do already and this would probably be the “last straw that breaks the camel’s back”.
One final interesting point to note. The special awards don’t necessarily have to relate to a 5 star or Diamond film. Last year’s “Best Actor” was in a film that was awarded just 4 stars.
Ken Wilson
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Joined: Mon Jan 29, 2007 11:17 pm

Re: Nominations for the awards

Post by Ken Wilson »

Hello guys. Thanks for the extra information/ explanations on the judging. I do realise that it will be a massive job sorting it all out. We did it for our competition 5 times, though of course, on a much smaller scale. I wouldn`t want to add extra burdens to the work David Newman does, I just thought it would be very interesting knowing which films were considered for the top award in some of the main categories.

There are around a dozen main awards and perhaps only two or three movies may be in contention as a potential winner in several of these. This may produce a list of 30 names which would only be used when the results are printed in FVM. I wasn`t suggesting that it would be numerous extra letters to send out or envelopes to open at the festival, just a few runners up on a simple short list. If this may cause D.N. to be struck down with crippling Arthritis due to the extra writing, I withdraw the proposal.
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