How Technology Stole the Show at the Oscars

news.com.au March 14, 2014
Technology managed to weave itself into the storyline of the Oscars this year Oscars awards and became a star in the process.

THE 2014 Oscars was not only about awards, A-list movie stars, glamorous dresses and lots of shiny teeth. This year we saw technology steal the show.

If you did not notice, the integration of technology into this year's star-studded bash was as subtle as Leonardo Di Caprio performing a cameo in an am-dram play. But Hollywood does not do subtle. Despite a selfie being as much a talking point as the winning movies and actors, in many ways technology gave the night that little bit more dazzle.

From the first moments the movie stars hit the red carpet there was a 360-degree camera called Fashion Turn waiting for them to snap what they were wearing and instantly upload to Vine, the video clip sharing app on Twitter.

There was a mini cam (or, Mani Cam) for stars to show off their manicures and then there was blimp cam. This was a controlled, hovering craft fitted with a camera to give the worldwide audience a view of the red carpet.

If only the television network followed in the technological footsteps of cricket and brought out a heat-sensing camera too, then we really would have seen who was nervous.

A panel of presenters from entertainment channel E! were sat behind a perfectly-placed array of Samsung Galaxy tablets where Kelly Osbourne conveniently claimed her dad (Ozzy) was crazy about Samsung and only has Samsung stuff in their house. Hmm, really?

We seem to recall an episode of the Osbournes reality show where he could not even operate a kitchen drawer.

The tech-laden coverage continued as Oscar reporters haranguing stars as they filtered in constantly spoke of the multi-cast app and website so those not near a TV could watch the live event.

But the tech did not stop outside. It played a starring role in the whole awards show.

In years past we would have seen Billy Crystal stand at the pulpit, crack a few one-liners, shimmy out a segue and introduce people to the stage. With Ellen DeGeneres being this MC this year, she was interactive and slinging social media.

Throughout her hosting she constantly paraded around a bright white Samsung Galaxy Note 3, snapping selfies with stars as they sat. Then, with the now-very-obvious handset, she took a superstar selfie with Bradley Cooper, Meryl Streep, Brad Pit, Angelina Jolie, and Jennifer Lawrence. So many famous faces they could not all fit in. Ellen wanted to break the world record for the most retweets ever and when she uploaded it, it took the site down from the amount of people logging on to see it.

Needless to say she made history with the tweet and amassed more than two million retweets within hours, eclipsing the previous record holder, which as President Obama's victory speech image.

Cue the internet and within minutes there were memes-a-plenty of this selfie. Nicholas Cage faces Grumpy Cat, sports stars and awkward references to the failed Liza Minnelli photobomb attempt. We became so preoccupied with the flood of internet funnies we almost forgot about the show still going.

So social media was a star turn, but the award-winning movies themselves also waved the flag for technology.

Gravity is one of the biggest, most award-heavy movies this year. Its depiction of Sandra Bullock's survival against a space catastrophe was made doable thanks to the incredible CGI effects, which is why it took home the gong for best visual effects.

NASA was so excited about the inevitable flood of awards it posted 'real-life' Gravity-style pictures from the International Space Station on its Twitter feed throughout the day.

The award for best original screenplay went to Spike Jonze for Her - a story about a man falling in love with his operating system, which highlighted the assimilation human and machines could face in the future.

Google is just one tech company currently working on making the computing experience for humans and with the likes of the mobile phone personal assistant Siri and wearable tech slowly advancing onto our bodies, it's too far-fetched. Especially if it's voiced by Scarlett Johansson.

We've got another year to see how the tech stakes can be raised for the next Oscar awards.