Oscar winners reflect on getting gold

Winning the Oscar at the beginning of his career gave him the boost he needed to wait for the right projects. "You get the luxury to choose the best films," he says. "I have always wanted to work on movies that have elements of social realism or criticism, or that are based on true stories."

Scalia, who won a second Oscar for 2001's "Black Hawk Down" and was nominated for both "Good Will Hunting" and "Gladiator," says the awards are bigger than his own career. Academy recognition has been important for his profession, especially as the demands on film editors have expanded. "The contribution of the film editor has grown," he says, "because of shorter schedules, more complex visuals, and the need to incorporate more computer-generated images into almost every kind of film."

Worldwide recognition helps audiences understand the art of editing. "Our role is not simply putting pieces together," he says. "It's about storytelling. The editors are involved in the choice of music, you work on sound design to create moods, you create the template from which the composer and sound editors and visual effects people work.

"An editor," he adds with a rueful laugh, "is involved from the first day of shooting till the film is delivered to the studio."

Winning an Oscar had one immediate impact for makeup artist Lynn Barber: It blew out her answering machine.

"The congratulations burnt out my tape," says Ms. Barber, who won in 1990 for her work on "Driving Miss Daisy." "People I went to kindergarten with came out of the woodwork to leave me a message."

But, she says, one of the film's stars put the award into perspective. "Morgan Freeman was nominated at the same time as I was," she recalls. "But he said to me, 'I don't want to win now,' " she says. "He said it was too early in his career. 'I'm an actor,' he said to me, 'I have another 20 years - when I win I want it to be later down the road. But ... you're a technician, you should win now, because it will change your career.' And he was right."

Initially, Barber says she didn't get phone calls for work, because, as some colleagues told her later, "people think you're out of their price range now. I know a woman who won for hair design, and she didn't work for six months because everyone thought she'd be too pricey for them," she says. "In my case, I just let people know that my rates hadn't changed."

But the award meant visibility in a highly crowded field. The Oscar on her résumé is a form of shorthand for prospective employers. "There are 1,500 people in my local union, No. 706, alone," she says. "By having the Academy Award, it just tells people you're at the top." She hastens to add that she believes this is a perception, not necessarily the truth. "There are many brilliant people in my union who have not won anything, so I am just greatly honored to have won," she says, particularly for work that, by Hollywood standards, is downright unflashy.

"This isn't like creating monsters or even wild apes, which most people aren't that familiar with," says Barber. "Everyone knows what age looks like," which meant that her work had to be invisible.

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