AP, LOS ANGELES: A giant green ogre will be part of Sunday's Academy Awards.
Oscar producers Bruce Cohen and Don Mischer said Friday that awards for animated feature and animated short will be presented at the kingdom of Far Far Away from "Shrek," which won the inaugural animated-feature Oscar 10 years ago.
The telecast will use technology to take viewers to various destinations during the show that help create context for the awards being presented, producers said.
They also revealed that the first two awards of the night, and the first two to be presented in one of these settings, will be art direction and cinematography.
Cohen said he personally called each of the nominees in those two categories to warn them their awards were up first, and to encourage them to craft meaningful acceptance speeches free of long lists of names.
"The idea was to encourage them to give short, moving, funny, beautiful speeches, since they would be the first speeches the whole world hears," he said.
Academy president Tom Sherak said producers have taken steps to ensure no winner will read a list on stage.
"They have done away with the metal detectors, and they are going to have paper detectors," he joked. "So before (winners) come up, they're going to walk through a scan that will make sure they have no paper in their pockets."
The president also promised that it wouldn't rain on Oscar Sunday. He said he made a special arrangement after producers invited him to appear on the show.
"That night, I went to sleep, and I looked up at the ceiling, and I said to my mother and father, 'Get everybody ready, I'm speaking on the show,'" he said. "They wouldn't dare let it rain."
