Shot-for-shot (orshot-for-shot adaptation,shot-for-shot remake) is a way to describe a visual work based on an existing work that is transferred almost completely identically from the original work without much interpretation.
In the film industry, mostscreenplays are adapted into astoryboard by the director or storyboard artists to visually represent the director's vision for each shot, so that the crew can understand what is being aimed for.
300 - DirectorZack Snyder photocopied the graphic novel and constructed the preceding and succeeding shots.
Watchmen -Zack Snyder again used the graphic novel as his main storyboard, featuring several shots that are almost identical to their literary counterparts.
The Adventures of Tintin comics series was adapted intoThe Adventures of Tintin television series, often with many of the panels from the original comic transposed directly to the television screen.
The Marvel Super Heroes animated series used extremely limited animation produced byxerography, consisting of photocopied images taken directly from the comics and manipulated to minimize the need for animation production.
The Maxx -Sam Kieth andWilliam 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."[1]
Many Japaneseanime series that are based on a precedingmanga series strive to adapt the story without many changes. One example of this isMonster, which besides adding animation, music and shuffling around some scenes, is a perfect recreation of the source material. If the anime and manga are being produced concurrently, however, and should the anime overtake the release of new source material, the producers might then be forced to create their own new ending to the story, go on hiatus, or create a "filler arc" with an original story arc that non-canonically continues the story until more material has been created.
John Erick Dowdle's 2008 filmQuarantine is a remake of the Spanish filmREC; mostly likeFunny Games, the remake is almost identical with several scenes (except the musical score and some elements from the original have been omitted) and was albeit with American crew and actors instead of the original Spanish.
Star Wars Uncut is an online fan-remake ofStar Wars, which consist of close to 500 fifteen-second shot-for-shot segments created and submitted from a variety of participants. The sequelEmpire Uncut was also released.
Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror a 2023horror film remake by David Lee Fisher of the1922 original. It technically preserves a shot-by-shot format by using green screen to insert colorized backgrounds from the original film atop live-action with different actors, includingDoug Jones. It is a process similar to his2005 version ofThe Cabinet of Dr. Caligari which used a digital recreation of the original film's artificial backdrops with added dialogue scenes.
In the early days of sound film, it was common for Hollywood studios to produceforeign language versions of their films using the same sets and costumes but a different set of actors as the original. Although a different director would be brought in for the foreign-language version, they would have access to the daily footage from the English language production and would often use the same shots and camera setups. Often the result would be similar to a 'shot-to-shot' remake, although in some notable examples (such asDracula (1931 Spanish-language film)), the alternate director exercised more creative freedom.
A genre of online collaboration projects, sometimes called "reanimated collabs," strives to create a shot-for-shot remake of an animated feature or television episode with many different animators handling different scenes. One example isShrek Retold, a shot-for-shot remake ofShrek which was produced using 200 different creators and art styles.[7]
To celebrate its 100th episode "Mercy", the showrunners ofThe Walking Dead created a shot-for-shot remake of the first scene broadcast of the series from the pilot "Days Gone Bye".[8]
The television showFamily 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.
A fan-madeweb comic parody of the mangaAkira byKatsuhiro Otomo, titledBartkira, has been created by Ryan Humphrey and is currently ongoing, with the first three volumes adapted. It is a panel-for-panel retelling of the manga illustrated by numerous artists contributing several pages each, with Otomo's characters being portrayed by members of the cast ofThe Simpsons; for example, Kaneda is represented byBart Simpson,Milhouse Van Houten replaces Tetsuo, and Kei and Colonel Shikishima are portrayed byLaura Powers andPrincipal Skinner respectively.[12]
