Well, we've finally come to the end of a long road. The fictional Awards of Motion Picture Services (AMPS) had happened on the night of January 15 in my fictional country of L World. It ends a journey that had started with my Best Picture Nominee vote that was posted three weeks ago and continued through to the Best Picture nominee announcement a little more than a week after that. In reality I had been coming up with these fake movies since January of 2022, not to mention one that had been planned for a couple of years now. While this is only the first of the three fake film awards for L World, AMPS has been the set of awards that had been made the most public, with me announcing the winners dating all the way back to 2000 (including 2020 and 2021 that was included in the aforementioned Best Picture Nominee vote.) I'm not sure if anybody really cares that much, but I might as well present the AMPS winners for this past year 2022. I'll only be listing the films for the technical awards while the acting and directing winners would be named.
Best Makeup
A Journey Through Chinese History: The Legend of Yue Fei
The AMPS equivalent of Best Makeup and Hairstyling rewards the visual transformation of actors into their corresponding characters. This year's award goes to the chief makeup artist for A Journey Through Chinese History for their work in turning contemporary actors into Chinese generals and officials form the 12th century, particularly Yueh Fei and his legendary tattoo. It was the eighth time in the 20 years of the A Journey Through Chinese History film series that it took home the Best Makeup award. However its first five awards came in the six years between 2004-2009, and this is only the third victory since.
Best Visual Effects
The Andersons vs. the World
The award honoring the special effects achieved in a film had been under a chokehold by films from The Quest series, as it captured the award nine times in ten years between 2003-2012. It has been ten years since The Quest concluded, and in the decade since the Best Visual Effects award had largely been in taken by science fiction films. This year is no different as the science fiction comedy The Anderson vs. the World took home the prize.
Best Sound Effects
Three Men and Their Cat
The AMPS equivalent of the retired Best Sound Editing category awards the creation of sound elements that is heard in the film, thus the title Sound Effects. It has been a category that has tended to favor science fiction or adventure films, although this year the award went to Three Men and Their Cat, the road trip comedy that includes travel in a tank.
Best Sound
A Journey Through Chinese History: The Legend of Yue Fei
Best Sound is the award that is mostly concerned with the mixing of the sound elements including the sound effects as in the award above as well as dialogue and music. While this award seems somewhat similar to Best Sound Effects, the the winners rarely coincide, as the voting body seems to like to spread the wealth, with Best Sound going to big sweeping epics more often. There is once again a divergence as this award went to the four-hour A Journey Through Chinese History: The Legend of Yueh Fei, which intersperses stunning war sequences with moments of quiet political intrigue. It is the only the fourth time a Journey Through Chinese History film won in this category, and the first since The Grand Canal in 2013.
Best Art Direction
The Seeds of Life
Art Direction is largely concerned with the design of a film's setting, which explains why the Oscar analogue is now called Best Production Design. It has been one category where A Journey Through Chinese History has had resounding success, as it had ten wins between 2004-2019. However, it has lost in the past three AMPS ceremonies, including this one as the voting body went with the dreary design of the tree-less future as featured in The Seeds of Life.
Best Score
The Abel the Able-Bodied Rabbit Holiday Special
The film's score refers to the soundtrack, or the background music featured in a film. The winners had been quite varied over the years, but this year it went to the Final Nominee vote winner The Abel the Able-Bodied Rabbit Holiday Special, which deftly mixes original holiday tunes along with heart-thumping musical pieces as Abel and his friends prepare for the battle against the unjust forces of the world.
Best Cinematography
A Journey Through Chinese History: The Legend of Yue Fei
A film's cinematography refers to the camera work as a whole, including not only the angles and movement but also other visual aspects such as the lens and the lighting. It is an award that celebrates films with a certain visual flair. This is one area where A Journey Through Chinese History has traditionally not done as well as it has previously won only twice. The Legend of Yue Fei makes it three victories as it mixes battle sequences with flashbacks and moments of quiet contemplation all with completely different shooting techniques.
Best Editing
Three Men and Their Cat
Editing plays a crucial role in the film's flow, as it establishes the path that the viewer would take in the film journey. Good editing can augment storytelling and also heighten emotion and a film's thematic scenes. Generally action films do well, but the award for this year went to Three Men and Their Cat as the editing work helps to punctuate the film's humor and the farcical journey of the film's anti-heroes.
Best Screenplay
Three Men and Their Cat
A film's screenplay is its backbone. It is more than just the dialogue spoken by the characters, but it also describes the action and the setting in which everything happens on screen. Generally the winner of Best Screenplay are also in contention for Best Picture, but this year is an exception. The award went to Three Men and Their Cat, a film which faltered in the Final Best Picture Nominee vote, but the screenplay was still awarded for its combination of humor with a sense of longing of lost time as the three protagonists take their trip to an uncertain future.
Best Supporting Actress
Diane Pye, The Young Artist
The first of the acting awards goes to the best performance by an actress in a supporting role, and the winner is a familiar one. After a year that went to celebrate the stars of Wayside School: The Cloud of Doom, the AMPS went back to giving the award to Diane Pye, whose performance of the inscrutable and unpredictable art teacher Maggie Forrest wowed audiences in the top box office hit of the year. It is Pye's four AMPS triumph in the Supporting Actress category, and the third in the last four years.
Best Supporting Actor
Yan-Hao Li, A Journey Through Chinese History: The Legend of Yue Fei
The other award honoring the performance by an actor/actress in a supporting role went to another frequent winner, albeit one in leading categories. Li Yan-Hao has been a standout actor in the A Journey Through Chinese History series and has captured three Best Actor AMPS for his performances as morally corrupt rulers throughout Chinese history. For The Legend of Yue Fei he switched roles to playing as the quietly scheming chancellor Qin Hui, whose fervent desire to negotiate peace with the Jin people lead to unfathomably tragic consequences. It may have been a supporting role but it helped him win his fourth acting AMPS.
Best Actress
Audrey Woodson, The Seeds of Life
The first of the leading acting awards went to an actress who has won her share of AMPS, but had been away from the winners circle for a long time. Audrey Woodson had been one of the great child stars in the 1990s, during which she had captured five AMPS. However, her roles had dried up as she aged into adulthood, and she was overshadowed in the roles she did get. Yet for her role as Jill, the reluctant keeper of the seeds in The Seeds of Life, Audrey Woodson was able to win her first AMPS since 1998, and her first in a leading category since 1990.
Best Actor
Wen-Hu Mo, A Journey Through Chinese History: The Legend of Yue Fei
With the other acting categories all getting repeat winners, AMPS finally recognized a first-time winner for its Best Actor in a Leading Role category. Wen-Hu Mo was a member of the A Journey Through Chinese History ensemble cast, but he had never quite stood out until he landed the role of Yue Fei, the legendary general whose military tactics won him respect but whose defiance also led to his downfall. It is the first year a Journey Through Chinese History film won multiple acting honors.
Best Director
Ke-Gang Lin & Da-Biao Wang, A Journey Through Chinese History: The Legend of Yue Fei
At this stage in the awards, A Journey Through Chinese History: The Legend of Yue Fei has established itself as the dominant film of this year's AMPS, and to the surprise of few the film captured the Best Director award for its co-directors. Of course, the fact that there were co-directors was a relatively new development. The A Journey Through Chinese History films had gone through several directors in the 20 years since the series began back in 2003. Da-Biao Wang had been the solo director since 2018's The Huang Chao Rebellion after combining with Ke-Gang Lin for The Sweet Dew Incident the year before. However, there was a clear critical downturn in the films in the series since Wang took over, leading the producers to bring back Lin, who had focused largely on the television series. The decision seemed to have paid off, as the duo captured the series' sixth AMPS, but the first since Lin won solo for The Song of Everlasting Sorrow in 2016.
Best Picture
A Journey Through Chinese History: The Legend of Yue Fei
With a strong showing across the board, A Journey Through Chinese History: The Legend of Yue Fei captured the ultimate prize in the AMPS: Best Picture. It is only the latest triumph for one of the more interesting film series. A Journey Through Chinese History was initially created by Max Snow and the late Jim Abrahms as a television series featuring tales from across Chinese history. The pilot was released as a feature film A Journey Through Chinese History Episode I in 2003. Since then there have been one theatrical release a year, with the films varying in length from the 2h-43 minute The Laws of Shang Yang (2006) to the 7h-37m The Chu-Han Contention (2007). There have been 20 feature films, and each of them have been met with critical (if not box office) success. 19 of them have been nominated for Best Picture at the AMPS (with only The Treaty of Chuanyuan in 2020 missing out, as it had lost the Final Best Picture Nominee vote). And with The Legend of Yue Fei capturing Best Picture that gives the series six triumphs.
Anyways, here are your winners. I hope you had fun reading about these and we'll see you again next year.
Best Picture: A Journey Through Chinese History: The Legend of Yue Fei
Best Director: Ke-Gang Lin & Da-Biao Wang, A Journey Through Chinese History: The Legend of Yue Fei
Best Actor: Wen-Hu Mo, A Journey Through Chinese History: The Legend of Yue Fei
Best Actress: Audrey Woodson, The Seeds of Life
Best Supporting Actor: Yan-Hao Li, A Journey Through Chinese History: The Legend of Yue Fei
Best Supporting Actress: Diane Pye, The Young Artist
Best Screenplay: Three Men and Their Cat
Best Editing: Three Men and Their Cat
Best Cinematography: A Journey Through Chinese History: The Legend of Yue Fei
Best Score: The Abel the Able-Bodied Rabbit Holiday Special
Best Art Direction: The Seeds of Life
Best Sound: A Journey Through Chinese History: The Legend of Yue Fei
Best Sound Effects: Three Men and Their Cat
Best Visual Effects: The Andersons vs. the World
Best Makeup: A Journey Through Chinese History: The Legend of Yue Fei
7 wins: A Journey Through Chinese History: The Legend of Yue Fei
3 wins: Three Men and Their Cat
2 wins: The Seeds of Life
1 win: The Abel the Able-Bodied Rabbit Holiday Special
1 win: The Andersons vs. the World
1 win: The Young Artist
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