Outpick Fred at the Oscars 2014 Contest

Are your Oscar picks the best?

Here we are, it’s finally Oscar time again and that means time for the second annual Outpick Fred at the Oscars Contest. It’s your chance to see if you can beat my Oscar picks and possibly win yourself an awesome DVD and movie review of your choice. Before you get started picking here are the rules to this year’s contest:

Rules and Prize:

• Contest Opens Sunday February 23rd and closes at 11:59 Saturday March 1st

• Contest entries are all recorded on the document linked at the bottom of this page. It’s really easy to fill out! Only one entrance per person, if I find duplicates (and I’m pretty good at spotting these things) you will automatically be disqualified and your post will be deleted. I have made everything on the document required responses so it goes without saying that you must fill out a complete form to be considered a proper entry.

• Contest is open to residence of Canada and the United States only (at least for the dvd prize). In order to keep shipping cost down this is necessary; I’m pretty sure no one who lives beyond these places reads this blog anyhow but still Canada and the United States only! The form does require your Full name, email address, physical address (including Province/State and Country) and postal code, this is entirely for shipping and winner contact purposes only just so I have an idea of where to send your prize if you are the winner.

• To win the contest you must beat my picks as well as everyone else’s picks. The contest is called “Outpick Fred” at the Oscars for a reason! If no one is able to outpick me I win, it doesn’t go to the next best person. There has to be some level of competition and suspense to this competition, if not where’s the fun in that? That being said I’m not the greatest picker in the whole wide world (I did “win” last year but on a ratio that’s pretty beatable) so there is a great chance that you can pull this one off despite having to beat me.

• In terms of categories and points, we’re picking every category but short films. I don’t generally watch short films nor does it interest me to pick them (it’s my break during the live blog too) nor is it too often that people pick these categories anyhow. The picks are divided into four separate categories totaling to 40 points: Minor Categories (sound design, visual effects etc) worth one point each and totaling to 10 points, Medium categories (both screenplays, animated and foreign language films, and documentary feature) worth two points each for a total of 10 points, Major Categories (all the acting awards as well as directing) work 3 points each for a total of 15 points, and Best Picture worth 5 points. They’re about equal points wise so it’s important to have good picks in every category because even a single minor category can make a big difference.

• In the case of a tie there are three possible tiebreakers. The first tiebreaker is the Best Live action Short Film category, if two people are tied the person who correctly picks Best Live action Short wins. If both guess or do not guess the pick correctly we move to the second tiebreaker: point distribution. The person who has the most points in the more substantial categories (hierarchy of categories from lowest to highest: minor, medium major, best picture) wins. If we are still tied then the person who registered first wins (although I’m pretty sure it won’t come to this). If someone ties me there is no tiebreaker I win. This makes it so people can’t duplicate my picks exactly and expect to win.

• The winner will receive their choice of a DVD copy (we’ll see about Blu ray if it’s something the potential winner wants) of one of the four best picture nominations that are released before the night of the Oscars and a review of any film of your choice. These films are Nebraska, Dallas Buyers Club, Gravity, and Captain Phillips. The reason it’s only the films that are released before Oscar night is so that I can ship the prize off guaranteed a day or two after the Oscars. Release dates can change and things could get complicated if I included films that were released after the ceremonies conclude. The film that you choose for me must be rentable on Canadian ITunes other than that it can be anything, whether it’s used to torture me or a is a really cool film that you may have seen but I haven’t had a chance to see/review (I prefer the cool movie option).

Enter Here:

Outpick Fred the the Oscars 2014 Contest Form!

Here is a summary of my Oscar Picks:

Best Picture (5 Points)

Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave

Major Categories (3 Points each)

Best Actor in a Leading Role: Mathew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)

Best Actress in a Leading Role: Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)

Best Actor in as Supporting Role: Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave)

Best Director: Alfonso Cauron (Gravity)

Medium Categories (2 Points each)

Best Animated Feature: Frozen

Best Documentary Feature: The Act of Killing

Best Foreign Language Feature: The Great Beauty (Italy)

Best Adapted Screenplay: 12 Years a Slave

Best Original Screenplay: Her

Minor Categories (1 Point each)

Best Cinematography: Gravity

Best Costume Design: 12 Years a Slave

Best Film Editing: Gravity

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Dallas Buyers Club

Best Original Score: Gravity

Best Original Song: Let it Go (Frozen)

Best Production Design: The Great Gatsby

Best Sound Editing: Gravity

Best Sound Mixing: Gravity

Best Visual Effects: Gravity

  

Good Luck Everyone! Let the best set of predictions win!