Oscar Buzz

Okay, so I figure I should hop onto the Oscar train, catch the Oscar buzz, and any and all other metaphors for talking about the Oscars like half the country will be doing in a very short time.

I had no plans to use the award show as a topic, but host John Stewart made me think about it. In one of the many brief vignettes between award presentations, he made a mention of "new media" while supposedly watching Lawrence of Arabia on an iPhone. Of course it was a joke, but it made me wonder how the Oscars were approaching the synergy between TV and Internet.

So, I went to the Oscar Web site, and it is, of course, flashy and "glamorous," as befits the ceremony. My biggest complaint is how slow it is, but that could also be because of my computer. (However, everything else seems to be working fine at normal speed.) Other than that, I think the biggest problem with the site is that there is too much content. There are numerous items from this evening being constantly updated, plus all of the material that has been created leading up to the awards show.

Though it can be a little overwhelming, you do get the most important information, the quick list of winners, in the upper right corner. It may take a few minutes to update, but given that I've seen a winner posted within nine minutes is rather impressive.

Now, for some of the features I think are interesting, innovative or just good in the new media light. One of the most important aspects of the Oscars is the red carpet. People love the celebrity fashion; most of the time the first interview question is, "Who are you wearing?" Well, here you can view a 107 image photo gallery of this year's fashion (click through by image or choose your favorite celebrity), then peruse the past five years of red carpet as well as selections from the whole 80-year history of the awards show.

Well aware of how connected people are, there is now the Oscar Widget. Their plug: "Add an Oscar widget (just like the one below!) to your blog, Facebook profile, MySpace page, iGoogle homepage, and many other social networks!" They seem so enthusiastic, that I've decided to add it below, just to make the plug accurate.



It has video, nominees, trivia and a newswire. This is actually a really good idea. I wouldn't personally seek it out, but for all the entertainment junkies out there, I'm sure it could be quite popular.

I think the most successful page is the one giving the more detailed winners list. There are some minor glitches and mistakes on this page, but the winners are uploaded within several minutes, so it's understandable. When you click on a winner, you're taken to a new page that lists the film and individuals who won the award, a film synopsis, Academy Awards history, nominated role (if applicable), and even a transcript of the acceptance speech (though this takes a bit longer to appear). You can also link to pages for all of the other nominees in that category. Clicking on the movie title takes you to a page that lists all of the categories in which it was nominated.

And I think one of the most interesting aspects of the winners list, as well as the best example of convergence style site construction, is the Thank You Cam. You can link to it by clicking beneath the pictures of people giving their acceptance speeches, or you can go right to the video page. Everyone is familiar with the celebrities being "played off stage" by the orchestra when their time is up. The Thank You Cam happens backstage, allowing them to give a more detailed, less pressured thank you. It's something many people would like to see, and a logical extension of television-type content that works well as an Internet feature.

Are there improvements that could be made? Sure. It might be nice to feature some streaming content, to allow people to watch more of the awards on the Web. But overall, I'm pleasantly surprised. Old Oscar is definitely keeping up with the modern era even at 80 years old.