In the scene where Shrek meets Donkey he tries to scare him by roaring but he responds by saying Shrek needs tic-tacs because his breath stinks. Donkey is chatty, flattering, not overawed and persistent. He says to Shrek he feels safe with him because he’s big and threatening and he calls him a “mean green fighting machine”. Suddenly Shrek bellows “why are you following me!” and strangely Donkey answers that Question by song, Donkey irritates Shrek by singing and telling stories which are irrelevant to the subject, he wants to stay with Shrek after only just meeting him. All this suggests that Shrek is harmless and not blood thirsty.
In the scene of the fairy-tale creatures the three blind mice show up on Shrek’s dinner table and call it home, then suddenly the seven dwarves shoved sleeping beauty on the table. When he checked his bedroom he finds the big bad wolf in his bed and he replies “what?” Shrek then walks out of his house and to his amassment sees hundreds of fairy-tale creatures and roars “what are you doing in my swamp”. The behaviour of the fairy tale creatures suggests that Shrek is not as bad he seems to be and none of the creatures feel threatened by him.
In the scene were we consider the visit to Duloc, after Donkey says that Shrek was too soft on the people of Duloc, Shrek asks Donkey if he should “decapitate an entire village, put their heads on a plate, cut open their spleens”. Shrek would not really do this because he doesn’t really like to hurt or kill anybody. Shrek tries to explain (using an onion) that there are more to ogres than people think which tells us that Shrek is not evil and that he has feelings too. We don’t expect this because ogres are meant to be vicious creatures. When Shrek and Donkey had a fight with Farquaad’s guards, it was unusual because Shrek was wrestling, playing to the audience and tagging Donkey. In the end when Shrek won, the audience loved him because his was entertaining.
When we look at lord Farquaad he seems to be evil. We first see him in the dungeon torturing the ginger bread man. Un like a traditional hero he is short, we first find out about this when he opens the doors to the dungeon. Shrek makes fun of Farquaad’s size “ men of his type are in short supply”. This shows that Shrek is funny and likes to joke around. Farquaad is a coward; he intends to rescue the princess by sending knights to do the job for him. He’s cruel when he orders the knights to “get that out of my sight”. Farquaad puts a knife to Fiona’s neck when she changed after sun set, and threatens to lock her up.
In some ways Shrek behaves like a traditional hero when he saves Princess Fiona. He is brave and courageous when he was fighting the dragon and fast when he was running away from the fire. Shrek is cunning and intelligent when he got the chains tangled up and then put a sword in between them, and finally he is noble and protects others before himself when he saves Donkey from fire by pushing him out of the way. But in other ways he behaves in the opposite way to a traditional hero and more like a rough ogre. Instead of climbing up into the princess’s room he fell though the roof of the room, Shrek then wakes Princess Fiona by shaking her not kissing her. The princess wants Shrek to be romantic because she thinks that Shrek is her true love. She offered Shrek a hanky as a token of gratitude but Shrek just uses it to wash his face. The excuse that Shrek gave for not killing the dragon was that is was on his “to do list”; the real reason was that he didn’t want to kill the dragon. Shrek has mentioned a number of times that he not like any other knight. “I’m one of a kind”; “I’m not your type”. Eventually Fiona realises that Shrek has done well.
When a director is making a film it is important that he/she uses a variety of camera angles to create certain effects. Close up shots can help to create fear, for example when Shrek roared at the villagers. They can show emotions when Shrek and Fiona were smiling; the shots were effective because it shows that they are happy and together. Close up shots can also show tension like when we saw the entrance of Lord Farquaad. His head was focused; this suggests that he is an important character. In the scene where Shrek and Donkey are looking at Farquaad’s castle, the camera moves from ground level upwards; this makes the castle look intimidating. Low angle shots are also used to show Lord Farquaad looking down on everyone, this makes him looks threatening. Mid angle shots can show the characters socialising with each other. For example, Shrek and Donkey were on the cliff and when Shrek and Fiona were eating their weed rats together. They both show the characters at the same time; this is to show that they are together. Shots of characters backs are used to show disagreement and vexation, an example is when Shrek and Donkey were sitting on the edge of the cliff and he turns his back on Donkey because was talking about living with Shrek.
Presentational devises are used to influence the viewer and to make them see a particular character in a certain way. Shrek’s swamp looks rough, it has menacing signs and a lot of mud; however it cant be that frightening because Donkey wanted to stay there and the fairy tale creatures wanted to stay there too. This suggests that the owner of the swamp is private and wants to be left alone. Lord Farquaads castle is strange compared to a traditional fairy tale castle. You would expect a fairy tale castle to be magical and bright. On one hand it’s a place of violence and torture, like when Farquaad was torturing the ginger bread man for information. On the other hand it’s like a cold sterile theme park, example the waiting line, the castle mascot, the pay booth and the information desk. This suggests that the owner of the castle is devious, big headed and has a split personality.
Lighting is used to persuade the viewer to think of a character in a certain way. When princess Fiona leaves Shrek the lighting was dark. He stares at the moon and the stars; he is pictured this way because it shows Shrek is sad and alone. Sunlight is used when Shrek and Fiona are walking in the sunlit meadows because it shows happiness. It is important when we watch the scene with Shrek and Fiona at sunset because it implies that there is some romance between the two. At the end of the film a magical light surrounds Shrek and Fiona, this illustrates that they will live happily ever after.
There are a lot of different types of music in the film used to suggest different moods. At the first glimpse of Lord Farquaad there is dramatic organ music that makes us feel excited and curious, this suggests that something important is about to happen. A female choir sings delicate music when Shrek is in the top most-tower because it makes it romantic. When Shrek is in the dragon’s castle rescuing Princess Fiona, loud dramatic music is used; the effect this creates is suspense and drama. Slow music is used when Shrek overhears Fiona and Donkey and misinterprets their words because Shrek is upset. A song about broken dreams and promises is played when Shrek returns home. He looks heart broken especially when he sees Donkey and Dragon cuddling.
After analysing the characters of Shrek and Lord Farquaad, I have come to a conclusion. Although in some ways Shrek appears like a traditional ogre, you think Shrek is different to one because he jokes around and doesn’t kill or hurt anyone. Although Lord Farquaad looks like a lord and seems to be in place of a prince, his actions suggest that he is evil. For example when he was torturing the ginger bread man for information and sending knights to rescue the princess instead of himself. The story of Shrek uses presentational devises to reverse our expectations. Like when Shrek is in the meadows with Fiona, they make the lighting bright because it’s a joyful part of the film and they use low angle shots on Lord Farquaad to make him look intimidating. In summary, Lord Farquaad, Princess Fiona and Shrek are unlikely characters in a traditional fairy tale.