What Shrek does not need is a cocky and witty talking donkey as a friend. He also does not want a bunch of Disney, fairy tale characters placed in his swamp. This shows that Shrek is a loner and does not want people around him. The character Donkey is an important character to the film Shrek. He is the one that brings Shrek down to reality, that he is not as scary as he thinks he is, for example, when Shrek tries to intimidate Donkey by roaring at him, Donkey irritates Shrek about his bad breath. He says, “if that doesn’t do the job your breath certainly will because your breath stinks!” He also suggests to Shrek that he should use some Tic-Tacs. This shows that Donkey isn’t scared or afraid of Shrek. This is supported well by the fact that Donkey, follows Shrek to his swamp ignoring all the ‘beware ogre’ signs. He races excited into the Shrek’s home, jumps around, and says, “in the morning I’m making waffles.” Shrek then gets Donkey out of his home, and forces him to sleep outside in the cold. As Shrek sits down to his meal, he shows a small amount of remorse to the fact that he has kicked Donkey out of the house but he quickly recovers. Shrek then hears a lot of scuffling around his house and blames Donkey but soon finds out that it was not him, but some fairty tale characters who had arrived at his swamp, from snow white to pinochio. Shrek finds out from Pinochio that the evil and extremely short Lord Farquaad has forced them there. He then, takes the quest to Lord Farquaad to get his swamp back aided by Donkey for the simple reason that he cannot get rid of him.
When Shrek and Donkey arrive at the village of Duloc Shrek insults Lord Farquaad. He asks Donkey, whether Lord Farquaad is “compensating for something,” comparing is huge castle to Lord Farquaad’s height.
The camera shots used in the film are put to great effect. A variety of camera angles are used in the film to portray different things. These camera angles are Low, Mid, High and Close up. The Close up camera angle is used when Shrek attempts to scare the fairytale creatures away. It gives off the impression that Shrek, is going to eat them. The darkness surrounding him, adds to the feeling of unease. Close up shots are useful for focusing the audiences attention on the characters’ emotions. This is presented when Princess Fiona is shown smiling with Shrek. The camera switches between them, and gives a sense of happiness. The low angle shots are used, to show superiority in some characters. For example when Lord Farquaad, talks to Shrek in the fighting arena he is on the top level and is looking down on everyone else. He is nearly always presented in a shot with him above, who ever else he is talking to. This shows the other characters vulnerability. It also shows his superiority. In the case of Shrek, it shows his presence and his size. For example, when he tells the fairytale characters to get out of his swamp, the camera pans down to show his size. It gives him the look of a tall, mean ogre who means business. The high angle shots are used when Shrek and Donkey enters the village. They look up at the castle and it shows the size of it. This in turn shows how wealthy Lord Farquaad is. Mid angle shots are used to show characters talking and socialising, and it puts them on equal footing. It shows neither of them higher or lower than the other. For example when Shrek and Donkey are lying down together or when Shrek cooks Fiona a meal. This gives people the chance to see the characters interacting with each other and gives the audience the chance to get to know there characters better. There are good mixtures of shots as well. For example when Lord Farquaad is first shown in the film, it uses a combination of shots rather than a full on shot. This is done to disguise his height and create tension. The first shot the audience see is of his hands rather than his face. He puts on a pair of gloves as if he means business. It is shots like these that build up the crucial first opinion of the character.