Blog: News & Views

You decide: What film will win the Oscar for Best Score?

Last year's winner for Best Score was Ludovic Bource for his music from "The Artist."

Identifying trends in this category can be difficult. Recent winners in this category include contemporary films ("The Social Network"), period films ("Atonement"), animated films ("Up"), and fantasies ("The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" and "The Return of the King").

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross's winning "Social Network" score featured untraditional, ambient music, but traditional orchestral scores typically prevail, as well as scores featuring and influenced by world music styles, including "Babel," "Frida," and "Slumdog Millionaire."

Among this year's contenders are "Lincoln" (five-time winner John Williams), "Anna Karenina" ("Atonement" winner Dario Marianelli), "Life of Pi" (Mychael Danna), and "Beasts of the Southern Wild" (Benh Zeitlin and Dan Romer).

MAKE YOUR OSCAR PREDICTIONS:
What film will win Best Score at this year's Oscars?
Log your predictions in all top Oscar races. Compete against experts!

Alexandre Desplat has been nominated four times in the last five years, and this year has five films in contention: "Rise of the Guardians," "Argo," "Moonrise Kingdom," "Rust and Bone," and "Zero Dark Thirty."

Four-time nominee Danny Elfman has four films competing for nominations: "The Silver Linings Playbook," "Frankenweenie," "Promised Land" and "Hitchcock."