Hundreds of movies are released throughout the year, and the Academy Awards are a chance for Hollywood to recognize the projects that have made a special impact on audiences and the industry. The 2012 ceremony celebrated a range of memorable features and the artists who created them, and we were proud to see that 41 Full Sail graduates worked on 10 films that won awards in 18 different categories.

The Artist took home the evening’s biggest honors, Best Picture and Best Director, as well as securing statues for Best Actor, Best Costume Design, and Best Original Score. The crew of this critically acclaimed silent picture included five graduates of our Film program, Joe Crowder (rigging grip), Jennifer Ann Henry (first assistant “A” camera), Michael Krikorian (production sound mixer), Nathan Lewis (camera trainee), and Joseph Mason (art department assistant).

Martin Scorsese’s masterful 3D film Hugo tied The Artist with five awards, winning Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Visual Effects. The movie featured a total of eight Full Sail alumni behind the scenes, including four from our Computer Animation program who worked on the Oscar-winning effects – Christopher E. Brown (digital effects artist), Joe Harkins (CG supervisor), Rob Price (digital artist), and ZhouTao Zhang (character modeler).

Best Supporting Actor went to Christopher Plummer for his affecting performance in the drama Beginners. Two Film graduates worked on the movie, Michael Loomer (on set dresser) and Joseph Mason (art department assistant). Film grad Patrick Redmond also worked as an aerial camera technician on The Help, winner for Best Supporting Actress (Octavia Spencer).

The winners in both two of the animation categories also featured our graduates. Rango took Best Animated Feature, with a crew that included five Recording Arts alumni, Jeremy Luena (editorial production assistant), Dee Selby (Foley editor), Chuck Choi (score technical engineer), Daniel Kresco (music engineer), and Sebastian Zuleta (score technical engineer). Best Animated Short Film went to The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, which had Recording Arts grad Oliver Benavidez (sound designer) and Film grad Stephanie Sousa (lighting technician) on its production team.

The biggest collaboration was seen on The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, winner for Best Editing. David Fincher’s gritty adaptation of the popular Swedish novel included the work of 11 graduates combined from our Recording Arts, Digital Media, and Computer Animation programs. Another group of four grads from Film and Computer Animation were also credited on The Muppets (Best Original Song).

Finally, Full Sail alumni contributed to both of the winners for writing. First was Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris (Best Original Screenplay), which had Film grad Ryan Duffy as scanner. Best Adapted Screenplay then went to The Descendants, which included the work of Brett Voss (foley mixer), Nicholas Hasson (on-line editor), and Jason Skweres (researcher).

As you can see, the 84th Annual Academy Awards highlighted a range of diverse stories, performances, and technical achievements that continued to inspire movies audiences. In addition to the 41 grads who worked on this year’s winners, there were a total of 99 Full Sail alumni credited on 29 Oscar-nominated films, and our staff would like to congratulate each of the artists who contributed their talent to the industry’s most recognized projects of the past year.