Oscar Prep: Production Design

Flashy and loud pays off in this category more often than not. When it's not that, it's a technical award juggernaut that gets it.  This year is definitely looking like one of those cases.

A couple notes first:
-Each category is arrange from Most to Least likely to win by my measure.
-An '*' before the title indicates a movie that I have seen.
-I'm trying to keep the shorthand to a minimum (get it). A couple that come up though are BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts), SAG (Screen Actors Guild), PGA (Producers Guild of America, WGA (Writers Guild of America), DGA (Directors Guild of America).

Other Picks

Best Production Design
Front Runner: *Gravity
Winner: Art Directors Guild - Fantasy Film
Nominee: BAFTA - Best Production Design
I may be foolish for choosing this over Gatsby. That's not to say this is a crazy pick though. Voter momentum for the techinical awards is a common occurance and it won one of the Guild prizes and was recognize by the British.

Dark Horse: *The Great Gatsby
Winner: BAFTA - Best Production Design, Art Directors Guild - Period Film
Dark Horse is probably the wrong classifier. "Co-Favorite" is more accurate. Few films this year were more distinctive or pretty and everything about this is loud in a way that the voters can't miss.

Other Nominees:
*American Hustle
Nominee: BAFTA - Best Production Design, Art Directors Guild - Period Film
This has harly been ignored in this category. If not for Gatsby, it surely would've won the guild award. The competition is too stiff.
*12 Years a Slave
Nominee: BAFTA - Best Production Design, Art Directors Guild - Period Film
It's only hope is a Titanic-esque domination on the night which looks unlikely.
*Her
Winner: Art Directors Guild - Contemporary Film
It's crazy that I'm calling one of the guild winners the least likely winner. That's the way voiting goes sometimes.