Author: Dan Katz
Each of the images is excerpted from a movie poster (and then, in most cases, rotated). The movie titles within each image are in alphabetical order, row by row. These movies were all nominated for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design; in fact, half of them won that award, while the other half are nominees that lost to those winners.
For each year, one can take the winner and loser, and identify the directions in which the tops of these two images point. These two directions form a semaphore letter. Reading these letters in order by year yields the phrase HEMMING BIRTHSTONE (with one missing year indicating the space). Lindy Hemming won a costuming Oscar for the film Topsy-Turvy; she was born in August, and her birthstone (in the modern American system) is the PERIDOT.
Year | Winner | Dir | Loser | Dir | Letter |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1996 | Restoration | SW | 12 Monkeys | W | H |
1997 | The English Patient | S | Hamlet | NE | E |
1998 | Titanic | SW | Amistad | E | M |
1999 | Shakespeare In Love | SW | Pleasantville | E | M |
2000 | Topsy-Turvy | SW | Sleepy Hollow | NW | I |
2001 | Gladiator | SW | 102 Dalmatians | SE | N |
2002 | Moulin Rouge! | S | Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone | SE | G |
2003 | [None] | - | [None] | - | - |
2004 | The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King | S | Seabiscuit | W | B |
2005 | The Aviator | SW | Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events | NW | I |
2006 | Memoirs of a Geisha | W | Charlie and the Chocolate Factory | E | R |
2007 | Marie Antoinette | NW | The Devil Wears Prada | N | T |
2008 | Elizabeth: The Golden Age | SW | Across The Universe | W | H |
2009 | The Duchess | W | Milk | SE | S |
2010 | The Young Victoria | NW | The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus | N | T |
2011 | Alice In Wonderland | W | True Grit | NW | O |
2012 | The Artist | SW | Hugo | SE | N |
2013 | Anna Karenina | S | Lincoln | NE | E |
The images, in order:
12 Monkeys | W |
Across The Universe | W |
Alice In Wonderland | W |
Amistad | E |
Anna Karenina | S |
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory | E |
Devil Wears Prada, The | N |
Duchess, The | W |
English Patient, The | S |
Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, The | N |
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, The | S |
Memoirs of a Geisha | W |
Moulin Rouge! | S |
Pleasantville | E |
Seabiscuit | W |
102 Dalmatians | SE |
Artist, The | SW |
Aviator, The | SW |
Elizabeth: The Golden Age | SW |
Gladiator | SW |
Hamlet | NE |
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone | SE |
Hugo | SE |
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events | NW |
Lincoln | NE |
Marie Antoinette | NW |
Milk | SE |
Restoration | SW |
Shakespeare In Love | SW |
Sleepy Hollow | NW |
Titanic | SW |
Topsy-Turvy | SW |
True Grit | NW |
Young Victoria, The | NW |