It is somewhat ironic that the Academy Award for art direction is not actually awarded to a film’s art director. Since Lyle R. Wheeler adopted the title “production designer” for his mammoth undertaking of supervising the set construction of “Gone with the Wind” almost seventy years ago, the name of the category has been a throwback to how art departments worked in the earliest days of cinema.

The production designer is the individual who is ultimately responsible for a film’s set design and its general artwork. This is the individual who ultimately receives the Oscar. The fact of the matter is that the set decorator – the individual responsible for filling up the production with specifics and props – shares the award. But primarily, one considers the production designer as responsible for a film’s sets.

This category is a haven for period and fantasy films. Designing the sets for worlds so far removed from our own is a dream for any production designer as they are given an opportunity to do something unique in the face of our typical day-to-day experience. “Amelie” is the only film nominated this decade that could realistically be described as contemporary. And even that is a fantastical film in a sense.