There are many different special effects used in the movie. Music, lightning, colour, sound and camera shots are all used to create a certain mood or atmosphere.
Music is used to create tension; if it speeds up or slows down. It could also change the viewer’s mood from happy to sad or the other way around.
Lighting is used to create a gloomy, sad atmosphere or a really happy, bright atmosphere.
Colour is used to make things look sinister by using dark colours like blacks or deep reds. But if things need to look joyful then bright colours like bright blue are used.
Sound effects are also used to create a certain mood. An example of a sound effect in the movie could be the lightning that you hear when Shrek sees the castle for the first time.
Sound effects can also make the mood seem happy or joyful.
Camera shots are used to make something look big or small, short or long.
E.g. Mid shot of the bridge makes the bridge look very long.
Close up of donkey’s face to show his fear.
Tension is created using several different special effects. I think that music is the one used most often. When the donkey is supposed to be looking for Princess Fiona, everything is deathly quiet apart from donkey muttering to himself. When he turn’s around and sees the dragon looking at him through a hole in a wall donkey yells ‘Dragon!’, the dragon roars and the really fast music begins. When everything was very quiet, tension was building up because everything was a bit too quite. Everyone watching the movie knew that something was going to happen. Camera angles are also useful to create tension in a movie. When donkey is at the edge of the cliff, the camera zooms out and uses a distorted angle to make the viewer feel anxious and to create tension. This way donkey’s fear is also shown. When the castle is first seen, the bottom of the castle is shown and the music played is not too fast and not too loud but when the camera rises slowly to the top of the caste, tension slowly builds up, especially because of the way the music is used. This is called a crescendo.
A scary atmosphere is created by the weather when the castle is first seen. It is dark, there are some flashes of light (possibly lightning), there is a misty sky and there are clouds hanging over the mountain. A sinister dark mood is created because of the dull, dark weather. It makes the castle seem scary and foreboding. This is called pathetic fallacy; when the weather is used to explain the mood/atmosphere.
Shrek’s entrance to Princess Fiona’s bedroom is not traditional in any way. On the contrary, it is very humorous. This is because when he enters Princess Fiona’s bedroom, he smashes through the roof, rather than climbing up the window or walking through the door like princes do in traditional fairy tales.
Princess Fiona tries to be a traditional princess as soon as she realises a rescuer is there to rescue her. She does this in several ways. As soon as she sees Shrek in her room, she makes sure that she is lying on her bed in a ramrod straight position, that she is carefully dusted down and that there is a bunch of fresh flowers in her arms. She tries to make sure that everything is perfect when her rescuer first sees her. When Shrek walked towards her, she closed her eyes and pouted her lips. The camera zoomed in on her face and Shrek slowly bent towards her.
However, if the viewers were expecting a romantic kiss, they were mistaken. Instead of kissing her, Shrek shakes her awake quite roughly and shouts “Wake up!” in her face. This is very amusing because everyone knows that in traditional fairy tales, the prince kisses the princess to wake her up, but instead Shrek shakes Princess Fiona quite forcefully and shouts in her face. Princess Fiona, however, does try and ignore what happened and puts on an accent and tries to be romantic. Shrek is not affected by Fiona’s antics and goes on as normal.
The dragon in Shrek is portrayed nearly the opposite of how dragons are supposed to be. Firstly, the dragon is a female dragon, who wears lipstick and mascara. She is shown with a very feminine personality, very much like how princesses are supposed to be. This is also a comical because the dragon is how Princess Fiona is supposed to be and Princess Fiona, who is a bit of a fighter and can be tough, basically is how dragons are supposed to be. As soon as Donkey starts complimenting the dragon to save himself from getting eaten, the dragon gets all girly and acts quite sickeningly flattered, which is definitely not how a dragon is supposed to react to things like that.
Music is used to create tension when Shrek and Fiona escape form the tower together. The music is quiet loud and because of this there is a lot of tension in the air, but when Princess Fiona stops for a minute to thank Shrek for rescuing her, the music softens and the tension is released but all of a sudden the dragon roars and the loud music and tension starts all over again. Drama is created when Shrek traps the dragon with lots of chains and begins to run out of the castle. Whilst he runs the camera slows down which shows him running very slowly, you can see the expression on his face because the camera has slightly zoomed in on Shrek. Shrek also shouts “Runnnnnnnnnnnnnn” which sounds very long and matches his slow movement. Whilst he runs in slow motion and shouts the word “run” very slowly, tension builds up and drama is created, however when the camera goes back to normal speed, all the tension is released and it is a big relief for the viewer to realise that Shrek, Princess Fiona and Donkey are all very safe. Another scene where drama is created is when Shrek rescues Donkey from the clutches of the flirty dragon. Shrek is near the roof of the castle and grabs the chain of the chandelier; everyone knows that he’s on a bit of a rescue mission so the music that is played is very similar to the Indiana Jones music. Shrek’s hero moves mixed with the Indiana Jones music creates a lot of drama.
Princess Fiona is a non traditional princess because of several different reasons. Firstly, she is part ogre at night time and human in the mornings. Secondly, she can fight very well, like a proper prince in traditional fairy tales. And thirdly, she has a bit of an attitude and isn’t weak and very feminine the way she is supposed to be.
Shrek is a non-traditional hero because firstly, he doesn’t want to rescue the princess, he has to. Secondly he doesn’t rescue the princess to find true love; he does it for someone else who is looking for their true love. Thirdly, he looks nothing like a prince; he’s part ogre, not exactly handsome and very overweight.
I find Shrek a very funny movie. I’d love to watch it again and again because I feel that it is the type of movie where every time you watch it, you always find something new to laugh about. I love the way most of the major character roles are mixed up: Princess Fiona is what a prince is supposed to be like (the fighting), the dragon is what Princess Fiona is supposed to be like (very feminine) and the prince is what the villain is supposed to be like (tortures magical creatures/evil). It gives viewers another reason to laugh whilst watching the movie. The camera and sound effects make the movie a lot more enjoyable to watch and they all really give a certain mood which helps you to understand the characters feelings. I think that it is a popular movie liked by both children and adults because firstly it is a comedy. I also think it is enjoyed by adults and children both because the things that happen in the movie are things that occur in adults every day lives but also happen in fairy tales, e.g. the dragon getting very feminine as soon as Donkey starts complimenting her. This happens in real life but because it involves a dragon it is part of a fairy tale.
