THE ARTIST and HUGO tied for number of wins at the 84th Academy Awards, taking home five Oscars® each including Best Picture and Best Cinematography, respectively. Both movies highlighted the magic of filmmaking as central themes, yet each production used very different techniques to show their stories. A silent, black-and-white film, THE ARTIST was shot by cinematographer Guillaume Schiffman, AFC, in 35 mm utilizing the ARRIFLEX 435 Extreme. HUGO was lensed by Robert Richardson, ASC,  in 3D stereoscopic, using ARRI ALEXA cameras supplied by Cameron Pace Group.

Further recognizing the visual wonder and technical brilliance of HUGO, the Academy bestowed its award for Visual Effects on the film, with the accolade shared between Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossmann and Alex Henning. Rob Legato, who is at the very top of his field, was involved in preproduction tests of the ARRI ALEXA and this award justifies his belief that ALEXA was the ideal choice for a visual effects-heavy production of the highest caliber and quality.

In his acceptance speech, HUGO cinematographer Robert Richardson, ASC, thanked director Martin Scorsese for his genius and dedicated his award "to all the past, present, and future filmmakers…...This is for you."

The film painstakingly recreated the magical world of director George Méliès, utilizing ALEXA and 3D stereoscopic to engage audiences further into the story. The Oscar was Richardson's third out of seven career nominations; previously he won for THE AVIATOR and JFK. HUGO also won awards for Art Direction, Sound Editing and Sound Mixing.

Michel Hazanavicius garnered the Achievement in Directing award for THE ARTIST, which used techniques from the Silent Era to tell the story of an actor's troublesome transition into 'talkies.' "I'm the happiest director in the world right now," Hazanavicius said, thanking the crew, cast (including scene-stealing dog Uggie) and the film for "its life full of grace; it brings to us joy and happiness."

Additional awards for THE ARTIST included Best Actor, Costume Design and Original Score.

The awards telecast also presented an excerpt from the Scientific and Engineering Awards, where Franz Kraus, Johannes Steurer and Wolfgang Riedel were honored for the design and development of the ARRILASER with Academy Awards of Merit®.

ARRI congratulates all Oscar® winners and nominees for another memorable year at the movies.

The full list of winners:

Best Picture

THE ARTIST

Thomas Langmann, Producer

Shot on ARRIFLEX 435 Extreme

Serviced by Panavision

Directing

THE ARTIST

Michel Hazanavicius

Actor in a Leading Role

Jean Dujardin in THE ARTIST

Actress In A Leading Role

Meryl Streep in THE IRON LADY

Serviced by ARRI Lighting Rental



Actress In A Supporting Role

Octavia Spencer in THE HELP



Actor In A Supporting Role

Christopher Plummer in BEGINNERS



Foreign Language Film

A SEPARATION - Iran

Cinematography

HUGO

Robert Richardson, ASC

Shot on ARRI ALEXA

Serviced by Cameron Pace Group

Art Direction 

HUGO

Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo

Costume Design

THE ARTIST

Mark Bridges

Music (Original Score)

THE ARTIST

Ludovic Bource



Sound Mixing
HUGO

Tom Fleischman and John Midgley



Sound Editing

HUGO

Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty



Makeup

THE IRON LADY 

Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

Serviced by ARRI Lighting Rental

Film Editing

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO 

Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall

Visual Effects

HUGO

Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossmann and Alex Henning

Writing (Original Screenplay)

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

Woody Allen

Shot on ARRICAMs

Serviced by Panavision

Writing (Adapted Screenplay) 

THE DESCENDENTS 

Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon & Jim Rash



Animated Feature Film

RANGO 

Gore Verbinski

Documentary (Short Subject)

SAVING FACE 

Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

Documentary (Feature)

UNDEFEATED 

TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas



Short Film (Live Action)

THE SHORE 
Terry George and Oorlagh George



Short Film (Animated)

THE FANTASTIC FLYING BOOKS OF MR. MORRIS LESSMORE

William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg



Music (Original Song)

THE MUPPETS, "Man or a Muppet"

Music and Lyrics by Bret McKenzie