In traditional fairy tales, ogres are man-eating beasts, the Prince rescues the Princess and they live happily ever after. How do the makers of Shrek use presentational devices to reverse this tradition, revealing the ogre as good, the Prince as ev

Later Shrek meets and rescues Princess Fiona as ordered by lord Farquaad. When they first meet Fiona is expecting a kiss as she lays ready (this is in reference to sleeping beauty) for a kiss but Shrek shakes her awake this suggests Shrek is not the traditional type as the film isn't either. When Fiona queries why Shrek hasn't slain the dragon he says that it is on his to-do list which says Shrek has a sense of humour even in life threatening situations.

At the beginning of the film, Shrek tries to threaten the characters he meets. There are characters that are not affected by his appearance these being Princess Fiona, Donkey and the fairy tale creatures that squat in his swamp at the beginning of the film. Although Shrek an ogre the audience accepts him as a good guy.

In contrast to Shrek, lord Farquaad is a small and nasty character and shows no remorse throughout the film. There is a scene where lord Farquaad is interrogating the ginger bread man truing to find the fairy tale creatures and is tormenting him with his own broken legs. And after doing this unlike Shrek lord Farquaad doesn't diffuse the situation by any comment or anything. From this the audience can see that lord Farquaad is evil and has very little good in him at all.

The wedding scene reveals the scene further as when the princess reveals herself in her true colours and remarks "its hideous" this proves that lord Farquaad does not love the princess and only wants to marry her to become king. As a result of the princess changing in to an ogre lord Farquaad calls off the wedding but still proclaims himself king, which shows how remorseless and self centred he really is.

Directors use a variety of camera shots to create certain effects. This is seen in many different places during the film for example; the close up of Shrek when he scares the villagers the camera looks strait at him showing his fearsome look and then pans away to reveal the villagers petrified of him. This is good because it creates the impression of a really dramatic scene just taking the picture from a certain place.

Close up shots are used to give the audience an impression of their emotion. This is also used frequently in the film. An example of this is when Fiona and Shrek are smiling which immediately tells you that they are happy and with the full face shot you can also see what type of smile it is, for example if they are faking it or maybe hiding something.

When lord Farquaad is introduced there is an illusion created making him out to be a great lord but what the camera conceals is that he is a little man. The camera first shows his body in different parts, it is only later in the scene when he is revealed to be small. The way this is done is by keeping the camera in a fixed position and allowing the lord to walk away from the camera so it seems that he is getting smaller and smaller.

When Shrek arrives at Farquaad's castle, the camera moves from ground level up to reveal his tower. This symbolises the sheer size of the tower and this is a very effective way to show the importance of the building and the power it holds.

After the fight during the tournament, the conversation between Shrek and Farquaad comprises of close-up and long shots. The long shots of Shrek and close-ups of Farquaad. This gives the audience that Shrek is of little importance compared to lord Farquaad.

When Shrek, Donkey and princess Fiona settle to make camp there are shots that display the characters in different lights. Fiona is eating a rat which is unlikely of a princess and is not really what comes to mind, and the shot of Donkey and Shrek which shows that they are starting to make friends and except each other for what and who they are.

There is a scene where donkey and Shrek are talking. Shrek doesn't want to talk to Donkey about sharing the swamp so he turns his back on the audience and the camera. In addition he is against a big full moon showing him to be quite small and lonely.

The separate locations where both Farquaad and Shrek live are quite stereotypical for their type of character I think. But I think both are altered a bit from tradition for example Farquaad's castle is set out to be a Disney Land as a reference to popular culture and I think Shrek's home in the swamp is a bit too homely for an ogre. This is reflected as Shrek being quite house proud.

When we first meet Shrek we can see he is an ogre because he is green big and has got trumpet shaped ears. He also has a grotesque way of cleaning in mud and cleaning his teeth with a stick and the puss from a bug. There is also a sign he has made saying "Ogre keep out" which confirms the viewers thoughts about him.

Lord Farquaad seems, in many ways, like a typical lord. This is seen by his clothing in regal dress and his power over his minions. But the story line in the film tells us that lord is not enough and he wants to be king and the only way this can happen is if he marries a princess - Fiona.

However his size is untypical of a stereotype lord he is about three foot tall which reflects to the audience he is a bit to "full of himself". This affects the way in which the audience looks at him and he seems to always be a nasty little man.

There is a lot of lighting used in the film to show many aspects from emotion to fear. For example when Fiona reveals herself as an ogre everything lights up and there are sparkling things floating round her, coupled with dramatic music this gives the audience an impression of importance and really gives them a "buzz". Darkness on the other hand is used for sincerity and to show the dark side of things for example the scene where lord Farquaad is interrogating the gingerbread man the back drop is a dingy dungeon which reflects the impression of fear and danger.

Another scene where Fiona and Shrek are walking through sun-draped meadows gives the impression of good and happiness. This reflects that they are starting to fall in love and this lighting effect reflects this well.

The music throughout the film is used in very different ways and there is a lot of popular copyrighted music from well known artists. For example in the opening scene prologue if you like there is typical fairytale music which sets the scene. In contrast to this when we first meet Farquaad there is a dramatic piece of renaissance music representing lord Farquaad to be great and powerful. It also instantly tells the audience he is not a nice person as the music is in the minor key (sad) and gives the impression of fear.

After analysing the characters of Shrek and lord Farquaad, I have come to the conclusion that although Shrek seems like a traditional ogre he has references to comedy that would not be typically seen. Also one thing that is very irregular is that he falls in love with the princess as in a traditional fairy tale the ogre would normally eat the princess or something.

While Farquaad looks, in some ways, like a lord, his actions suggest that he is evil and uses other people for his own benefit. For example he used/married Princess Fiona just so he could become king and clearly didn't love her as when she transformed into an ogre he instantly rejected her.

The story of Shrek uses presentational devices to reverse our expectations, so by the end of the film the stereotypical image of evil ogre and heroic lord have been completely turned on their head and we see the lord as a small, evil, manipulating and self centred man, and the ogre to be a heroic, comedic and triumphant and who gets the girl in the end.

The message of the story is that that looks can be deceiving and "Don't judge a book by its cover".

Toby Adams

1S 11X1 HMA