Short answer: Cinematography is the motion picture equivalent of
photography for still pictures. In other words, camerawork.
Long answer:
Officially, from the Oscars website
(http://www.oscars.org/78academyawards/rules/rule09.html)
(Quoting)
1. A reminder list of all eligible pictures shall be sent with a
nominations ballot to all members of the Academy Cinematographers
Branch who shall vote in the order of their preference for not more
than five productions.
2. The five productions receiving the highest number of votes shall
become the nominations for final voting for the Cinematography Award.
3. In accordance with Rule Two, Paragraph 5, only principal position
credit(s) shall be considered eligible for the Cinematography Award.
4. Final voting for the Cinematography Award shall be restricted to
active and life Academy members.
(End of quotation)
So, basically, there are rules governing what movies are generally
eligible for awards (ie. they have to be from that year, etc.), but
among those, it's basically whomever the members vote for, based on
their own personal criteria.
For more information on cinematography in general, one place to start
is the Wikipedia article on the subject
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinematography). |
