We’re back with our second set of Oscar predictions. Today, we’re focusing on all of those awards people typically go to the bathroom during–the technical awards. These are the awards for the unsung heroes of the movie: those who shape the look, sound, and feel of what you’re watching through lighting, editing, set design, and so on. So, these folks are essential to the art of filmmaking and thus are rightly recognized on Oscar night. If you are making a full set of predictions, you don’t need to know about these crafts, but you need to know who Oscar will think is the best at them this year.

Best Cinematography – All Quiet on the Western Front

As I mentioned in my last post, this Netflix-distributed German-language adaptation of the renowned book and remake of the winner of the 1930 Best Picture Oscar has a lot of nominations–nine. Only Everything Everywhere All at Once has more (and isn’t nominated in this category). That’s usually a good sign for films that depend on the look of the film to carry a lot of the impact, and All Quiet’s grueling battle scenes definitely do that.

Look out for: Elvis. Oscar has the chance to give this award to a woman for the first time ever, and Mandy Walker’s work on Elvis is really great in a lot of the movie. All Quiet is still the favorite, but Walker and Elvis are coming on strong. Do a web search tomorrow on this one before you cast your vote.

Best Costume Design – Elvis

Costume Designer Catherine Martin working with Baz Luhrmann equals Oscar. She won this award for both Moulin Rouge and The Great Gatsby. Also, the “most costumes” is also a good bet for the “best costumes,” and there are a lot of flashy-yet-realistic costumes for the King.

Look out for: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Ruth Carter won this award for the first Black Panther and the movie had some stunning costume work (the all-white funeral scene outfits were incredibly effective). But the film itself seems to have underwhelmed.

Best Production Design – Babylon

“Production design” is everything that you see on screen that isn’t an actor, a costume, CGI (kind of), or nature. Damien Chazelle’s lavish recreation of the silent era of Hollywood has been the front runner here for a while. It does look great, and Oscar definitely loves movies about Hollywood, but this one very much produces a “love-it-or-hate-it” reaction…and lots of people hate it.

Look out for: Elvis. Elvis is an underdog here, but it’s close. As with costume design, Martin also won Oscars for Moulin Rouge and The Great Gatsby in this category. If Elvis wins here and in costume design and in makeup, the chance that Austin Butler wins Best Actor goes up exponentially. But I don’t think that will happen. Probably.

Best Makeup and Hairstyling – Elvis

If I had written this yesterday, I would have gone with the prosthetic work to make Brendan Fraser look 600 pounds in The Whale. But Elvis has jumped ahead for a lot of oddsmakers. This team deserves a lot of work for helping Butler with his transformation, especially during his “Unchained Melody” performance at Elvis’s final concert. Plus, at this point, it just feels like the voters like Elvis more than The Whale. For these technical categories, that’s important.

Look out for: The Whale. Some don’t like that there was some CGI work to accompany the makeup work and others think it’s all kind of exploitative and “fatphobic.” I think it looked very realistic, served the character well, and still let Fraser’s performance come through.

Best Editing – Everything Everywhere All at Once

Again, it’s often the case of the most editing equals the best editing. And EEAAO has a lot of edits; there are scenes of just a few seconds where the characters jump through what seems like hundreds of realities. Yet it all looks like a unified whole. And that’s the key to great editing. This movie doesn’t succeed without the editing. The Academy will recognize this.

Look out for: Top Gun: Maverick. But not really. But that’s okay, because…

Best Sound – Top Gun: Maverick

Finally, the biggest movie event of the year gets an award. It helps that EEAAO wasn’t nominated here. This award will recognize the crazy amount of old-school in-camera practical creative work that went the “movie that saved Hollywood.” Also, the sound design and execution are just excellent.

Look out for: All Quiet on the Western Front. Lots of loud things go boom. You never know.

Best Visual Effects – Avatar: The Way of Water

Everybody said no one would care about a sequel 13 years in the making to a movie most people don’t remember liking in the first place. And it’s now the third-highest grossing movie of all time. And it looks incredible.

Look out for: Top Gun: Maverick. Hey, it would be nice, but it’s not going to happen. Avatar is pretty much a lock here.

Best Original Score – Babylon

This is another two-movie race with All Quiet on the Western Front. If I was voting, it wouldn’t be close. All Quiet blasts and drones with an anachronistic electronic score and, while it’s definitely “original,” it doesn’t feel incredibly musical. Justin Hurwitz’s score for Babylon, however, certainly does, with lots of jazz licks which are actually incorporated into the action. Hurwtiz should get a third Oscar to join his two from La La Land.

Look out for: All Quiet on the Western Front. It is close, even if it shouldn’t be.

Best Original Song – “Naatu Naatu” from RRR

India had a worldwide smash, a crazy action-adventure bromance so over-the-top you can’t help but love it. I certainly did. It’s first ever Best International Film Oscar was guaranteed…and then it submitted a different film for consideration, which, of course was not nominated. The voters get one chance to honor the film and will do so with the infectious tune from the big mid-movie dance number.

Look out for: “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Rihanna just slayed at the Super Bowl and announced her second pregnancy. This would be quite a capper. But RRR is a true juggernaut right now.

Alright, that’s the technical awards. Come back tomorrow to finish up my (which you absolutely make your) predictions for the rest of the awards. We’ll hit all those “other” categories that often ruin a perfect bracket. Don’t miss it!