CRAFTY NEWBIES

SURE, it’s exciting to see a long overdue director finally clutching an Oscar, but it can be even more fun to watch up-and-coming first-timers -- especially those who ply their craft outside the limelight -- suddenly get swept up in the awards season whirlwind. Without warning, the whole town (not to mention respected peers) tunes into their every word at cocktail parties and special screenings followed by nerve-wracking Q&As.; Here are a few craftspeople we think may be doing well enough to get caught off guard.

Sheigh Crabtree

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Shutchai Tym Buacharern

and Camille Friend

“Dreamgirls”

Oscar slot: Makeup

Feat of imagination: With stylized wigs and glamorous makeup -- often involving up to four sets of eyelashes and spanning two decades -- this makeup and hair team transformed three gorgeous girls and up to 750 extras a day into supreme eye candy.

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Huo Tingxiao

“Curse of the Golden Flower”

Oscar slot: Art direction

Feat of imagination: As production designer, Tingxiao created the largest set ever built in China, a near full-scale exterior replica of the Forbidden City, at Hengdian World Studios. Interior sets were built at Beijing Film Studios and dressed with inordinate displays of colored Chinese art glass, including pillars illuminated from within.

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Joan Bergin

“The Prestige”

Oscar slot: Costume design

Feat of imagination: With elegant magicians and their bohemian and provocatively dressed assistants, Bergin went for a deconstructed Victoriana that updates stuffy period dress by simplifying and modernizing moth-eaten duds with sexier silhouettes.

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Edson Williams

“X-Men: The Last Stand”

Oscar slot: Visual effects

Feat of imagination: Williams and Lola Visual Effects staff gave digital face-lifts to Sir Ian McKellen (as Magneto) and Patrick Stewart (as Prof. Charles Xavier) making the actors appear 25 years younger by digitally manipulating light and existing bone structure.

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Pamela Martin

“Little Miss Sunshine”

Oscar slot: Film editing

Feat of imagination: Martin’s biggest challenge was reconstructing Olive’s (Abigail Breslin) final dance number. Originally shot with a ZZ Top song, the editor later had to match her dancing to Rick James’ “Super Freak” and could use only three beats at a time of footage before the moves were out of sync.