Period Production Design:
Anna Karenina
Django Unchained
Les Miserables
Lincoln
I'm thinking Anna Karenina (the possible winner here and with Oscar), Lincoln, and Les Mis are in the Academy's top five. No Master? Boo-urns.
Fantasy Production Design:
The Dark Knight Rises
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Life of Pi
Prometheus
How many of these will complete the Oscar nominees? You could make a case for all of them. Cloud Atlas had the most varied work of the year in this field; TDKR and The Hobbit are continuations of franchises that found love from the production designers branch; Life of Pi is the likely winner for FX and cinematography, of which production design is a natural extension in the Academy's eyes; and Prometheus is (in my opinion) the best of the lot.
Contemporary Production Design:
Flight
The Impossible
Skyfall
Zero Dark Thirty
Still waiting to see Zero Dark Thirty and The Impossible (although by all accounts the latter features some devastating production design), but of the other three I'd have to say Skyfall deserves it for its many rich sets. None of these will be nominated for the Oscar.
