Shot-for-shot

Shot-for-shot (or shot-for-shot adaptation, shot-for-shot representation) is a term used to describe a visual work that is transferred almost completely identical from the original work without much interpretation.

This term has been used widely recently in the film industry, when it produces films that are adapted from a comic/graphic novel origin. Each scene/cut from the movies is identical to the panel in the publication.

Production uses

In the film industry, most screenplays are adapted into a storyboard by the director and/or storyboard artists to visually represent the director's vision for each shot, so that the crew can understand what is being aimed for. However, some directors skip this process, and use the comic book's panels as storyboards.

Examples

From comics/graphic novels to film

• Sin City and its film adaptation - most scenes are shot-for-shot
• 300 - director Zack Snyder photocopied the graphic novel and constructed the preceding and succeeding shots.

From comics/graphic novels to television

• The Tintin comic book series was adapted into a television series, with many of the panels being used in the television series for their respective stories.
• The Maxx - Sam Keith and William Messner-Loebs' Image Comics series was adapted in an animated television series by Rough Draft Studios and MTV in 1995. Richard Mathes wrote of it, "The cartoon version of The Maxx follows the comics' art almost line-for-line. Instead of attempting to cartoon-ify the dark tone of the comic books, the producers made the decision to use animation that is nearly identical to the panels within the Image comics. In addition, the animators did as little animating as possible. They don’t insert motion just to show that they can; instead, they hold on to shots, using movement only when absolutely necessary."

Film to film

Some films are remade in an almost identical "frame-to-frame".

• Alfred Hitchcock's black-and-white Psycho was remade by Gus Van Sant into its color version which is nearly a shot for shot remake, with different actors.
• Michael Haneke remade his own 1997 film Funny Games, which was in the German language, into a 2008 American remake in English, also with different actors.
• Amateur filmmakers Eric Zala, Chris Strompolos, and Jayson Lamb created a shot-for-shot adaptation of Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark during their youth in the 1980s. The film was unearthed and championed years later by filmmaker Eli Roth; a movie about the boys' creation of the film is in production.
• Luc Besson's 1990 French film Nikita was remade as 1993's English-language Point of No Return by John Badham. Except for the language translation, only minor changes were made, and the two films are largely shot-for-shot identical (particularly action sequences, such as the "laundry chute dive" restaurant escape).
• The 1934 and 1957 film versions of The Barretts of Wimpole Street were not only shot-for shot and scene-for scene, but were both directed by Sidney Franklin. The major differences between the two are that the 1934 version was filmed in black-and-white and in standard Academy ratio, with a cast nearly evenly divided between British and American actors, and the 1957 version was made in color and Cinemascope with an all-British cast, except for Jennifer Jones.
• The 1939 film The Four Feathers , based on the novel by A.E.W. Mason, and its 1955 remake Storm Over the Nile were not only both made in color, but like the two versions of The Barretts of Wimpole Street, used the identical script.
• The 1937 and 1952 film versions of The Prisoner of Zenda also used the same screenplay, with the added twist being that the older version was released by Selznick International Pictures, while the 1952 Technicolor version was released by MGM, which had purchased the rights from Selznick.

Animation to animation

• Tops with Pops and Love That Pup

Manga to Anime

Most Japanese Anime series' that are based on a preceding Manga series strive to perfectly adapt the story without many changes. The only major changes that usually occur are added material to pad out the story, as most Anime are made while the manga is still in production. Sometimes however, if a manga is released monthly and its anime adaptation is released weekly for example, the anime might catch up with the manga. Out of material to adapt, the producers might then be forced to create their own new ending to the story.

Homage

Some directors pay tribute/homage to other works by including scenes that are identical.

• The Odessa Steps sequence of The Battleship Potemkin has been emulated in several films, including The Untouchables, as well as the film Brazil.
• The 400 Blows has a scene identical to Zéro de conduite as a homage.
• The famous "cropduster chase" scene in North by Northwest has been the subject of numerous homages and parodies.
• The Dreamers contains numerous homages and reconstructions of scenes from films such as Bande à part, Blonde Venus, Freaks, Scarface, Queen Christina, À bout de souffle, Sunset Boulevard, and Mouchette.
• The Disney film Enchanted includes numerous homages to animated films done shot-for-shot in live-action.

Parodies

Many comedy works that rely heavily on parody use shot-for-shot as a substance of humor.

• Many Simpsons episodes parody other works by using shot-for-shot representation.
  • a scene in "I'm Spelling as Fast as I Can" is from Requiem for a Dream.
• The television show Family Guy commonly transitions into shot-for-shot remakes of famous scenes, sometimes depicting the original actors, at others inserting characters relevant to the current episode.