Shot by Shot

Shot by Shot is a daily movie screenshot quiz that was started by allamericanboi on April 8, 2005. The first shot was from Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954). With a few exceptions, the game has had a new shot pretty much every day since then.

The game started as the shotbyshot community on LiveJournal, where it ran until April 30, 2005, when it was migrated to butterjesus.com/shotbyshot so that there could be increased flexibility with things like image storage, score-keeping, etc. (The game was cross-posted on both sites through May 5, 2005.) The shotbyshot community is now used for discussion about ways to improve the game, its history, and status, and has been since November 26, 2006.

Since the beginning, scores have been kept for individual quizzes, which usually consist of about a month’s worth of shots, usually ending and beginning with the calendar months. Sometimes quizzes are themed, like vistavision’s Oscar-nominated movies quiz and coasterboy’s infamous two-month Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon quiz.

There are official rules for Shot by Shot, which were only recently recorded, but have been consistently followed since its inception.

There is also a list of upcoming quizzes and their respective administrators. Each of the game’s semi-monthly quizzes is managed by one of its many regular players each month, including (among others): delghtfllytacky, coasterboy, vistavision, valorfaerie, tmantones, and second-in-command, aijoskobi.

The URL of Shot by Shot changed to http://shotbyshot.butterjesus.com on Saturday, July 5, 2008, in the wake of the site’s first security breach.

Questions about the game or the shotbyshot community can be directed to zack_mcghee AT yahoo DOT com.

Here are the official rules of Shot by Shot:

• A contest is defined as a series of shots beginning with “No. 1″ and usually running to “No. 30″ or “No. 31,” but sometimes more or less.
• All shots must be taken from feature-length (45 minutes or longer) motion pictures that had a commercial, theatrical release in the United States; and are or were at one time available on Region 1 DVD. That said, shots may be taken from any media (digital media other than or including DVD, television, videotape, et al.) so long as this and all other rules apply.
• Any shot from a single movie cannot appear more than once per contest.
• Whenever possible, shots must be presented in their original theatrical aspect ratio or the aspect ratio preferred by the director. Movies that are not available for use in their original or intended aspect ratio may be used (for instance, movies available only as “pan and scan” or “full frame”), but this must be noted when the shot is posted.
• In the event that a prize is awarded to the winner or winners of a contest, a player cannot be awarded a prize from two consecutive contests, or two non-consecutive contests separated only by contests for which prizes were not awarded.
• The open period of guessing will be left to each contest administrator. However, unless otherwise specified by the administrator, the period of guessing on each shot will be seven days.