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The IMPC database owes its existence to objectives number 3 and 7.
About the Database
The credits in the IMPC database were originally collected and printed in the Academy publication Annual Index to Motion Picture Credits. The Index started in 1934 as the Screen Achievement Records Bulletin, when the Writers Branch of the Academy began publishing a bulletin of screen authorship records.
Later, the publication was expanded to include credits in all Academy Award categories and its name was changed to the Annual Index. The Annual Index is closely tied to the annual Academy Awards presentation, undoubtedly the best-known of all Academy activities.
Every year, as part of the Academy Awards process, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gathers credits for each film hoping to qualify for awards. These credits, compiled and verified by the film's producer or distributor, are the core of the Annual Index and of the IMPC database.
At the end of the year, credits from all films released in Los Angeles county are added, using research materials from the Academy's Margaret Herrick Library.
Although the database incorporates credits from films which were not eligible for Academy Award consideration, its focus is unquestionably the Academy Awards. Rather than list every person credited on a film, emphasis is placed on those crafts which the Academy honors at awards time. These include credits from the producing, directing, art directing, cinematography, visual and special effects, costume design, film editing, sound and sound editing, makeup and hairstylists, music, writing and acting fields. Song titles that appear in the database are those which were submitted by their composers for awards consideration. The executive committee of the Visual Effects Branch of the Academy selected key visual and special effects personnel for inclusion in the database. We record the Los Angeles release date because that is the release date the Academy uses to determine eligibility. [For more information about Academy Award eligibility see our Website www.oscars.org.
In addition to personal credits, IMPC records also index production and releasing companies, MPAA ratings, running times, Los Angeles release dates, color, language, source authors and source material, all of which are searchable.
The complete IMPC database covers the years from 1976 to the present, but the Academy is now in the process of revising and updating its content. Consequently, only the years between 1980 and the present are currently available to the public. As each record is completed, its information will be made available on the website. |
