Last night was the night of Oscars, so I’m going to take a minute to comment on the set design of the show.

This year’s set was designed by Mr. Roy Christopher. It is the 17^th time he’s designed this event and the last 16 times have earned him Emmy nominations, six of which have resulted in awards.  (Getting an award for an awards event… that’s kind of ironic.)  On the official Oscars site, Mr. Christopher is quoted about his design. 

"When designing the Oscars, I try to make the current show as different from the year before as possible. Last year's show was distinguished by a hi-tech, 'cutting-edge' style. So this year, there's nothing hi-tech — it's a no-holds-barred return to classic Hollywood glamour, paying homage to old movie theaters." 

Overall, I really enjoyed the design.  There is only so much one can do with an awards show design that hasn’t been done already.  The best a designer can do is give it some sparkle that isn’t the same as the year before, give it visual flow and offer a good pattern for herding the Very Important Cattle… most of them actors.  Last year’s design was very curvy and swirly.  This year’s design was much more geometric.  I thought this years design had a better focus on the location where all the speaking happened, at least when people speaking didn’t mess it up by setting down the award on the floor. 

A return to a more classic style it was.  One of the first things I noticed about the design was the stunning red show curtain with beautiful gold trim detail along the bottom three feet or so.  It has occurred to me exactly how many theaters simply have a plain colored main drape.  I guess that kind of detail would wear and tear more quickly for long term use.  This detail really made the drape pop as something special.  I want one. 

One of the main backdrops was a “wall” of silver architectural hexagons.  I don’t think this wall was on stage all that often, and yet I remember it as being the main backdrop, so I guess it made the biggest impression on me.  The middle went up and the sides slid off.  This three directional movement created a really nice energy.  It also created the biggest problem I noticed with the design.  (I must say, just for a moment, finding any problems with this design is just being plain nit-picky.  It was a fun design, but hey, I did notice these things.) 

After receiving awards, people did not have any sort of clear idea about where they were supposed to go.  The people handing out the awards really had to put forth effort in herding the winners off-stage in the right direction.  There were a couple moments I even wondered if there was going to be a collision.  No one out there had two active enough brain cells to think clearly when they are in front of that many people.  I don’t remember there being this much confusion about which direction to head during other years.  Perhaps I just wasn’t paying attention.  It has left me wondering, however, what could have been done to better direct the onstage traffic while maintaining the design? 

People seemed to want to exit straight upstage where they had seen the wall splitting.  The rest of the scenery, too, had a very centered weight about it, and I think the way the design felt so centered impacted the direction people thought they should go.  The proper place to exit was stage right, if I remember correctly.  I wonder if there was a technician backstage waving a sign that said “Exit this way,” or even a light that allowed the winners to see that there was a place to go that direction.  I wonder if before this awards show people are given directions.  Maybe other years there have simply been more winners who had also won in previous years and knew what to do. 

If I had the task of adjusting this design with the one goal of fixing the traffic problem, I think I would run a strip of carpet, perhaps the same color as the floor, or perhaps picking up one of the accent colors, across the stage from stage right all the way to stage left, connecting the wing space right in front of that wall.  I think this subtle element would have given the actors some idea that walking to the side was the way to go, and not straight upstage.  (I base this on the theory that they managed to follow the red carpet, so a carpet of a different color should also be easy to follow.)  Then again, I’m not sure I would have thought about the fact that this could be a problem… and that’s my solution after thinking about it for 30 seconds, so there are probably a million issues with it that I didn’t consider. 

The only other thing I noticed that perhaps could be considered a problem, was that winners all really wanted to be able to set their prize down.  This was especially true of people who needed notes to make their speech.  Some years there is a podium.  This year there was a simple microphone.  The microphone was more sleek in its design, and did not distract for actors, or other scenery.  The setting down of the Oscar on the floor, however, did distract.  There was at least once when the camera crew zoomed in on a floor-sitting trophy while a speech was being given.  I’ve never seen a camera zoom in on a podium sitting trophy during a speech.  Why? Because the existence of the podium takes the focus off of the trophy. 

There was another scene that did have some curve to it.  There was a giant Oscar statue flanked by two curvy walls.  It was very modern in feel, and yet I kind of wanted to watch a Greek Tragedy happen in that space.  I’m not sure what that says about it as a set for an awards show.  It was a very powerful feeling set. 

For the most part, I really enjoyed the design this year.  It had a simple yet very rich elegance about it, and the focus really was the person at the microphone for every scene.  Good job again, Mr. Christopher.  I’m sure you’ll enjoy another Emmy nomination. 

Now, on topics related to the design, but having nothing to do with Mr. Christopher… 

I do find it amazing that so much huge scenery gets built for a one night only event.  I find it even more amazing that this event is then declared a “green” show.  I went to the part of the website that was supposed to tell me how Green this event was.  Instead, it told me that if I drive a more fuel efficient car, I’ll pollute less.  I wonder how much luaun (aka “rainforest wood”) was used in the building of this set.  Luaun is the most widely used scenery building material that I know of, and if they didn’t use any, I would be shocked.  If they didn’t use any, I think they would have said so… loudly.  I get the feeling the Green thing was actually a whole lot of hot air, and I believe hot air is what we’re trying to overcome, right?  But at least the nominations ballets and certificates were on recycled paper, designer though it may have been. 

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