It was in 1929 when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science first started the Oscars. Within a few years, the awards had grown so large and popular that in 1935, the balloting system had to be subcontracted to the PricewaterhouseCoopers company which has been in charge of it ever since. The secret envelope that are used in today’s shows have been around since PricewaterhouseCoopers introduced it back in 1941.

The Oscars are composed of 15 categories in all, with having 5 of those being their main ones. The members of the award ceremonies are invitees only which is handled through the board of governors. The awards themselves are 13.5 inches tall and weigh 8.5 pounds. Featuring a black base, the statuette is a gold plated knight yielding a sword and standing upon a reel of film which has five spokes.

It was George Stanley along with Alex Smith who created the original Oscar statuette and since this time the figure has only been revised once. Each and every single year, these awards are given out to the best in the film industry and there are only 40 of them created for any given ceremony.

When the award were first created, in order for a film to be eligible for an award it had to have been made in the previous 12 month period. Due to the war though, this was changed to 16 months back in 1932 and has yet to have been reversed. Furthermore, no film under 40 minutes in length or with a resolution less then 1280 x 720 can be considered for an Oscar as it would not be considered full-length.

The Academy Awards have shifted venues, days of the week and even months of the year for the annual event. The original ceremony was held on a Thursday and this continued on until 1954 when it would be moved to occurring on a Monday. They would continue being held on Mondays for another 60 years and then in 1999, the Academy Award ceremony was moved to Sundays.

The movie industry has always been surrounded by fantasy and glamour, and Oscar night is the pinnacle of the year. Back in the days it all started, no one would ever imagine a day when that fantasy and magic became available to the average Joe and Jane through the advent of dvd rental.

The first Oscars were held at the Hotel Roosevelt and would be moved to the Biltmore Hotel. However until the early 1940’s this location would be rotated between the Ambassador and Biltmore Hotels.

Then the venues would be changed to the Grauman’s Chinese Theater, followed by the Shrine Auditorium and then in 1949, the Academy Award Theater. The Pantages Theater would stay the home for the next decade after which the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium would become its home. Until 1988, the Los Angeles Music Center along with the Shrine Auditorium would become the place for the awards here it was finally moved to the Kodak Theater.

Every year there are more then a billion people who will tune in to the Oscars worldwide. They may not always agree with what the world thinks is the best films of the yea, but one thing everyone has in common is that the glitter and glamour that makes Hollywood so attractive draws people to see who will win the top awards.

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