New Into the Woods Song- Page 2

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 9/19/13 at 10:03pm

...or as the first music cue in the end credits....

Thank you, best12. I can't help but wonder the point of the rule: where ELSE would you put an Oscar-hopeful song but in the film or at the beginning of the credits?

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/20/13 at 6:22am

In the past, there have been songs that have been positioned as the second or third music cue in the end credits that have gotten nominated.

Also songs that have been heard far in the background, playing on a radio in a scene, for example, where you actually barely hear only about four bars of it ... that have gotten nominated.

The current rule is in place mostly to prevent those two scenarios from happening again. It upset a lot of people in the Academy. Studios were adding these songs into the film at the very last minute, just to get them another nomination. But they really weren't part of the film. There was no attempt to integrate them. It was pretty obvious.

Many of them were pop songs that were being pushed by the studios music arms on upcoming albums. They would be promoted as singles, etc. So they would shove one of these songs into a film at the last minutes, hoping to score an Oscar nomination along the way. As long as it hadn't been released before the film came out, it was still considered to be eligible and "written for the movie." But it had nothing to do with the film, other than being edited in at the last minute.

The rule is in place to force the studios and filmmakers to at least attempt to make film song choices appear "intentional." They have to put some effort into the presentation of it, or the song won't be considered eligible.

Updated On: 9/20/13 at 06:22 AM

[Brick]

Posted: 9/20/13 at 11:46am

There was a rule change recently stating the song must be in the film or the first musical cue of the credits. I recall last year Madonna's Golden Globe winning song was not eligible for Academy consideration specifically because it was the second cue.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/20/13 at 3:51pm

Correct. If you look on the previous page, I linked directly to the Academy's rule from their website and quoted it.