Guests recieved red carpet tratment and got their pictures taken before entering the ballroom.
Photo Credit: Alex Gamboa
While most people on campus watched the Oscars from the comfort of their rooms or apartments on Sunday, the Video Production Club at Montclair State University celebrated the red carpet event in style at their third annual Oscar Party.
The event was held in the spacious Student Center Ballrooms, which was much grander compared to previous years, when it was held in the Rathskeller. The increased space of the ballrooms also allowed for more seating to accomodate the surge of popularity of the event.
The Oscar Party was co-sponsored by the Latin American Student Organization, Players, Newman Catholic, Montclair State Dance Company and Weekends at Montclair.
The doors opened at 6:30 p.m., which gave attendees plenty of time to meet up with friends and take a walk down the red carpet, where a cardboard cut-out of Neil Patrick Harris was waiting. Harris was a definite favorite among students and was a stand-out in everyone’s selfies and snapchats from the night’s events.
Awards were given out to the organization’s members during the commercial breaks.
Photo Credit: Alex Gamboa
Members of the Video Production Club were also waiting at the end of the red carpet to take guests’ pictures with high quality cameras. The pictures were then posted after the event so students could access them without worrying about which friend’s phone to send their pictures from.
The festivities began with an intense lip-sync battle, in which people could sign up to compete against Annette Roldan, last year’s winner, a sophomore television and digital media major.
Lip-sync battles have become a tradition for the Oscar Party, as many people in the Video Production Club are captivated by late-night television — specifically, the “Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,” which is what started the lip-sync craze. Celebrities like Emma Stone, Ellen DeGeneres and John Krasinki as well as numerous others have appeared on his show to show off their lip-sync skills.
For the final battle, Roldan performed the hit 2000s classic “What Dreams Are Made Of” from “The Lizzie McGuire Movie,” complete with backup dancers. Amanda Kaminsky and Samantha Williams performed Beyoncé’s “Crazy in Love,” and the duo ultimately won the battle based on audience applause.
The award show also included performances and lip-sync battles.
Photo Credit: Alex Gamboa
At that point in the night, it was time to watch the Oscars, and, after a few technical difficulties, the awards were projected on the big screen.
Instead of watching the monotonous commercials, members of the Video Production Club presented their own awards to other members. In this way, the event celebrates the Oscars as well as hosts a banquet and awards ceremony to honor those in the club.
The exciting energy in the room was palpable throughout the night, but especially during the awards themselves. There were definitiely a lot of “Mad Max: Fury Road” fans who cheered after the movie’s three consecutive early wins for sound mixing, sound editing and costuming.
During the long-awaited moment of the night, everyone jumped to their feet with jubilation at seeing Leonardo DiCaprio finally win an Oscar for his film, “The Revenant.”
There were so many highlights from the night, both from the Oscars and the event put on by the Video Production Club. The success of the night had everything to do with students who wanted to dress up and watch the Oscars with their friends at an exceptional viewing party.
