Beowulf an Animated Film

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the body that governs the Oscar ceremony, has decided that Beowulf is an animated film. Alvin and the Chipmunks, says Variety, doesn't possess enough animation to qualify.

This means that the Paramount picture, which was adapted from the 9th Century poem by Roger Avary and Neil Gaiman, can contend for the Best Animated Feature Film category at next year's Oscars, which happens on February 24, 2008.

Beowulf's Motion Capture Controversy

Many animators felt that the Robert Zemeckis movie, which was filmed using motion capture, didn't qualify as an animated film. For them, motion capture isn't really animation, but merely an effect that resembles animation.

"With animation, there is no motion that exists in the real world," said Sheridan College of Animation professor Mark Mayerson. "Animators construct motion out of stills and when the stills are rapidly displayed, they provide the illusion, not the recreation, of motion.

"Motion capture starts with real world motion," Mayerson continues. "From my perspective, anything done to that motion qualifies as a special effect, but not animation because the major part of the performance comes from real world observable motion."

Even Zemeckis seemed to feel that Beowulf shouldn't have qualified for the Best Animated Feature Film Oscar.

"To call performance capture animation is a disservice to the great animators," he said at the International Broadcasting Convention last September.

However, Paramount still submitted Beowulf to the Academy for consideration in the Animated Feature Film Category. The studio obviously felt that precedent was on Beowulf's side since a previous motion capture film, Warner Bros.' Happy Feet, won the Best Animated Feature Film Oscar last year and another, Sony's Monster House, also qualified for final nomination.

This led many wags to claim that the only non-motion capture film in the final nomination, Disney/Pixar's Cars, was the only true animated film to be nominated last year.

The combination of Happy Feet's win, and Beowulf's confirmation in the category, has sealed the notion that motion capture qualifies as animation for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Alvin and the Chipmunks Doesn't Have Enough Animation

The Twentieth Century Fox film, which stars Jason Lee as singer/manager David Seville, had previously been put into the short list for next year's Academy awards. But a later review by the animated feature film screening committee decided that Alvin and the Chipmunks contravened the Academy's guidelines that "animation must figure in no less than 75 percent of the picture's running time."

Even before the committee's decision, Alvin was a long shot in the category. The fact that the film's star, Jason Lee, was appearing on screen was a major strike against it. Not only that, there were many quality animated films released this year which, considering its weak pre-release buzz, would have likely squeezed Alvin and the Chipmunks out of the final nomination process.

Beowulf Might Not Make Final Three

Despite winning this round with the Academy screening committee, there's no guarantee that Beowulf will be nominated on Oscar night.

With Alvin off the short list, this means only 11 movies will contend for the final three nomination slots. Since less than sixteen films were short-listed this year, there will only be three nominations for Best Animated Feature Film on Oscar night, instead of the usual five.

With Disney/Pixar's Ratatouille and Sony Picture Classic's Persepolis solid favourites to win the category, this means that only one slot is truly available. And Beowulf has heavy competition from Fox's The Simpsons Movie, DreamWorks' Bee Movie and Shrek the Third.

Beowulf poster

Alvin and the Chipmunks poster

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