IT’S WARM-UP TIME FOR OSCAR SEASON

With a full month remaining on the 1986 calendar, and with a number of potential candidates still unreleased, the Academy Award campaign season is under way.

“For your consideration” ads have already appeared in the two Hollywood trade papers, and several of the studios have published schedules of December screenings of select films for academy members.

Not all of the films getting academy screenings are serious contenders for best picture. The studios routinely mount modest campaigns for bad or unsuccessful movies to stroke producers, directors and stars with whom they would like to try again.

But they don’t leave any of their serious contenders off the schedule, either.

Thus, the winnowing down of a list that will include more than 200 movies begins. Film critics, those hearty aardvarks, are the only ones who will have actually sat or slept through the bulk of them.

As anyone who has ever been involved in an Oscar race will tell you, the key to getting nominations is getting voting members of the academy to see the movies. The movie-going habits of most of the 4,000-plus members are no different from those of moviegoers at large. They are urged to action by reviews, word-of-mouth and effective ad campaigns.

Throughout most of the year that means they may bite on the same glib review blurbs (“Terrific . . . a 10!”) that are held out before all of us. But now they have to get serious. For the next two months, they will be special. They will be wooed, cajoled, begged and beseeched to see the two or three dozen movies that will be getting pushed.

Because they cannot see all of them, the voters--whether they will acknowledge it or not--depend on several things in preparing their must-see lists.

--Friends. Academy members, like the rest of us, are inclined to see movies that friends assure them are worthwhile. Unlike the rest of us, their friends are often involved in movies they claim are worthwhile.

--Critics. Film people may hate film critics, but at the end of the year, the movies and performances singled out for awards by the major critics’ groups, and the films that appear at the top of most major critics’ Top 10 lists, are assured a careful look by most academy voters. The Los Angeles Film Critics Assn., in its rush to judgment, will meet Dec. 13 to vote the first notable awards, and will be followed shortly afterward by the New York Film Critics Circle.

--Mailers. Last year, Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures were criticized for their heavy-handed promotion for “The Color Purple” and “Out of Africa,” respectively. But the mailers couldn’t have hurt. Between them, the films received 22 nominations.

--Trade paper ads. Most of the serious pushing is done in Daily Variety and the Hollywood Reporter. The ads can be informational as well as promotional, reminding academy voters of screening dates and pointing out specific elements for their consideration.

--The buzz . This is a conversational game that starts about this time every year. Like this: “What do you think is going to happen with the Oscars? Terrible year, huh?” “Yeah, it’s weird. There are usually three or four obvious nominees. I can’t think of any this year, except for maybe. . . . “ By the end of the conversation there is a consensus on three or four obvious nominees in each category.

The buzz is an intangible participant in the Oscar process, but a real one. Not only does it help narrow down the list of movies the academy voters feel they need to see, but occasionally, it gives a performance or a film plausibility as a candidate.

If enough people say, “I don’t think it has a chance, but the movie I wish would be nominated is . . . ,” it can move from the wish list to legitimate contention.

The movie that is getting that kind of mention this year is James Ivory’s “A Room With a View.”

That it has been around so long, and had such good word-of-mouth, means that it has probably been seen by more academy members than most of the other films being talked about as Oscar contenders.

There is already a little controversy in the awards season. Orion Pictures launched an early campaign for Woody Allen’s “Hannah and Her Sisters,” which was released to rave reviews and solid business last February. If there is one movie in 1986 that figures to have a lock on a best-picture nomination, this is it.

But Allen, who is about as interested in competing for an Academy Award as he is in being a contestant on “Wheel of Fortune,” has insisted that Orion not promote him for his work as writer, director or actor. Allen has been consistent in his disdain for awards. The night he won two Oscars, for writing and directing “Annie Hall,” he played the clarinet with a jazz group in New York, and was in bed when the envelopes were opened.

The ongoing snub will undoubtedly influence some voters, and it could keep “Hannah and Her Sisters” from winning the grand prize. But it is still regarded by most people as a shoo-in for several nominations, including one for Woody as best director.

The other movies being talked about as front-runners for best-picture (and best-director) nominations are “The Mission” (Roland Joffe), “Peggy Sue Got Married” (Francis Coppola), “The Color of Money” (Martin Scorsese) and “Children of a Lesser God” (Randa Haines).

Other movies being most frequently mentioned as possible best picture nominees are Rob Reiner’s “Stand by Me,” Bertrand Tavernier’s “Round Midnight” and Peter Weir’s “The Mosquito Coast.”

There are several films scheduled for release before the end of the year that their studios intend to promote for Oscars. The list includes Andrei Konchalovsky’s “Duet for One,” Sidney Lumet’s “The Morning After,” De Laurentiis’ “Crimes of the Heart,” Frank Oz’s “Little Shop of Horrors,” Clint Eastwood’s “Heartbreak Ridge,” Oliver Stone’s “Platoon” and Gene Saks’ “Brighton Beach Memoirs,” which was adapted from Neil Simon’s play.

Paul Newman, from “The Color of Money,” and William Hurt, from “Children of a Lesser God,” are the names most people mention first in discussing the best-actor candidates. Others mentioned from movies already released include Harrison Ford (“The Mosquito Coast”), Dexter Gordon (“Round Midnight”), Bob Hoskins (“Mona Lisa”), Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons (“The Mission”), Michael Caine (“Hannah and Her Sisters”), James Woods (“Salvador”) and Jeff Goldblum (“The Fly”).

Never has an actress been nominated for a performance in an action-adventure film. Sigourney Weaver (“Aliens”), who is routinely included in many people’s lists, could be the first.

Others getting the early buzz as best-actress contenders are Sissy Spacek (who will be promoted by Universal for “ ‘night, Mother” and by De Laurentiis for “Crimes of the Heart”), Marlee Matlin (“Children of a Lesser God”), Kathleen Turner (“Peggy Sue Got Married”), Julie Andrews (“That’s Life”), Diane Wiest and Barbara Hershey (“Hannah and Her Sisters”) and Farrah Fawcett (“Extremities”).

Some performances by major actresses have yet to be seen, including Jane Fonda in “The Morning After,” Spacek, Jessica Lange and Diane Keaton in “Crimes of the Heart” and Andrews (“Duet for One”).

Two films opening in Los Angeles this month to qualify for Academy Awards are “Hoosiers,” starring Gene Hackman, and “Native Son,” starring Oprah Winfrey.