My first night at the Oscars: The 2024 Academy Awards as seen from my laptop

I’ve never bothered to stay up and watch the Oscars before. Although I enjoy going to the cinema and talking about films, I usually haven’t seen most – if any – of the films nominated and would much rather sleep than stay up any later than midnight. However, this year I decided to persevere and watch the 96th Academy Awards. Why? I honestly couldn’t tell you.

My decision was based partly on FOMO, actually watching some of the films and discussing the nominations, a Vogue article, and a competition with myself so that I could say I’d actually done it. So I loaded up ITVX and prepared myself for the long night ahead.

10:15pm – Red carpet looks

The Oscars started out how they always do with the red carpet walk so fashion lovers like myself can admire all of the designer looks. This part was slow-moving and I did not give it my full attention, instead opting for the Vogue and Vanity Fair web pages that updated the looks as they came in. Due to the ceremony airing on ITV, we didn’t actually get to see much of the red carpet instead watching some kind of panel with Jonathan Ross, Richard Armitage, Fay Ripley, Ben Bailey Smith (Doc Brown), and Yinka Bokinni.

Twitter became my best friend temporarily as I followed all of the red carpet looks and sent them to my friend Erin to gather opinions. Vanessa Hudgens’ pregnancy reveal made me feel old, having grown up watching her in High School Musical and we debated over Billie Eilish’s red carpet outfit (Erin wasn’t a fan).\

It had just gone 11pm it was announced that the Oscars would start in five minutes. At this point, I hadn’t yet realised how long my night would be – I was still determined and optimistic like when you leave pres to go to the club. The night was still young then.

11:05pm – The Oscars begin

Jimmy Kimmel warmed the audience up with some jokes before the first award was announced. The decision to start with Best Supporting Actress seemed strange, but I suppose they have to start somewhere. This year, the Oscars revived their five-presenter format where five previous winners of the acting categories (Best Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress) give little speeches about the nominees. Although it definitely made the ceremony longer, there was something heartwarming and almost poetic about hearing from people who stood exactly where these actors and actresses are now.

At 11.33pm there were still 22 Oscars to be given out and I felt it. At this point I was already questioning my decision and wondered if it was worth me staying up until nearly 3am. However, Billie Eilish’s live performance of her Oscar nominated song ‘What Was I Made For?’ made me reconsider an early night.

On stage with her brother at the piano and in her second outfit of the night, Eilish’s poignant performance somehow made the song even better and I can only imagine how beautiful it would have sounded live. We may have only been 90 minutes in out of a nearly four-hour-long ceremony, but this gave me the hope to persevere.

00:35am – Naked John Cena

The vibe instantly changed when Jimmy Kimmel came back on stage to announce the winners of Best Costume Design with the help of a ‘naked’ John Cena. This gag was in reference to the moment a streaker appeared on stage 50 years ago at the 46th Academy Awards and did earn some laughs from me. Following on from their win for Best Production Design, Poor Things then swept the board taking home both Best Costume Design and Best Makeup and Hairstyling, as predicted.

From here the night was punctuated by comedy duos starting with Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling quibbling over Barbenheimer followed by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito. The Barbenheimer bit was funny and helped pick up the pace as we passed the halfway mark.

1:30am – Six Oscars to go

By 1.30am there were only six Oscars left to give out: Best Original Song, Best Original Score, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Actor, and, of course, Best Picture. Just when I thought I should call it a night, my determination was rewarded in the form of Ryan Gosling.

The highlight of the Oscars was undoubtedly his performance of ‘I’m Just Ken’ in an old Hollywood-style number imitating Marilyn Monroe’s iconic Gentlemen Prefer Blondes scene. Gosling in a Barbie pink tux singing and dancing a choreographed number with 65 other Kens, Mark Ronson, and Slash – what’s not to love?

At 2am I felt like I was on the homerun with only four awards left. Still buzzing from the ‘I’m Just Ken’ performance, I was ready to watch the final half an hour of the Oscars unfold. I found myself more excited than I thought I’d be. Oppenheimer had two wins so far as did The Zone of Interest and Poor Things was ahead with three. As the winners were announced, I frantically texted Erin with live updates which I’m sure she appreciated.

2:35am – The Oscars comes to a close

2.35am and it was officially over. I’d watched my first-ever Oscars ceremony live from my laptop. 23 awards, five live performances, and three-and-a-half hours later awards season was over.

What did I learn from this experience? If you’re going to sit through a three-and-a-half hour long ceremony then I would definitely recommend having someone to talk to because it can be boring at times. Being able to message Erin with memes, tweets, and screenshots of the ceremony made it a lot more entertaining even though I was still only watching the Oscars from my uni room.

I would also suggest making some predictions beforehand even if you’ve only seen a handful of the nominated films. Like having a team to support in sports, making predictions for the winners is key to staying engaged throughout the ceremony.

Would I do it all again? Even though I complained substantially and this seems like a critical take on the night, I did enjoy the experience. Admittedly, a little part of me hoped for some drama like when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock last year or the La La Land/Moonlight mix-up back in 2017, but there was nothing like that.

Given how much I actually liked watching the ceremony unfold live, I feel inspired to watch more films this year so that when the next Oscars roll around I can make proper predictions and hopefully get even more out of the night. Yes, it was a drag at times and the jokes didn’t always land, but there was something about seeing the joyful, funny or even touching moments live that made me think that I would do the same exact thing next year.