Character Essay Movie Notes (Shrek)
Clothes wobble when he moves
Human like features e.g body hair, fat rolls, eye brows, finger nails, wrinkles
Villagers fear him, see him as monster
His ears are shaped like horns, move around a lot when he moves and even move when his mood changes
Lighting is strong in some scenes
Quite a disgusting/dirty character due to his habits.
Smiles the most when on his own in peace
Mise en scene used well in beginning scene when scaring away villagers. Lighting and camera angles are strong
Saliva flies from his mouth and angry facial expressions are shown
When he meets Donkey, shows impatience through expressions and tone of voice, seems very annoyed by Donkeyās presence
His walk cycle is strong and he stomps a lot, swings shoulders heavily with punching styled motion
Rolls his eyes a lot around other characters which suggests he is irritated or unimpressed easily
Is approached by fairy tale creatures at his swamp, who have all been kicked out of their homes by Lord FarquaadĀ
Out of anger he goes to see Lord Farquaad to get his swamp back to have his peace and quiet
Drags Donkey with him to see Lord Farquaad
Shrek laughs at his own jokes occasionally (His own sense of humour)
Shrek intrudes Farquaadās tournament games and defeats all of his guards when they are ordered to kill Shrek.Ā
Although Shrek is heavy and fat, his movement is quite quick when fighting the guards
Farquaad sends Shrek to rescue Princess Fiona for him to marry her, in exchange for Shrek to get his swamp back again
Although legs are quite skinny he has a large round upper body and big/thick/long arms that swing strongly when he walks.Ā
He doesnāt seem unsettled or worried about the quest whatsoever, even though it involves facing a dragon that guards the tower the princess is locked away in.
Isnāt scared in the slightest about crossing the bridge over the top of all the lava
Shrek finds knightās armour inside the castle and puts it on
When Donkey is almost eaten by the dragon, Shrek saves Donkeyās life by pulling on the dragonās tail and fighting it
Shrek ends up finding the princess asleep, instead of waking her with a kiss he shakes her body and wakes her up
He doesnāt seem interested in her at first and acts rude, we see this from his limited eye contact with her and strong signs of sarcasm
He drags her with him to go and find Donkey and is in a rush to leave, even though the Princess is grateful for him saving her and is in no rush to leave
She gives him her handkerchief as a āToken of my gratitudeā and then Shrek saysĀ āThanksā rudely then wipes the dirt off his face with it and throws it back at her
When Shrek finds Donkey still being chased by the dragon, he saves him and carries both Donkey and Fiona in one arm each and runs away from the dragon in attempt to save them both
He shoutsĀ āHead for the exit!ā and then stays to stick a sword into the dragonās chain to trap it
As they run back across the bridge it snaps and Shrek catches Donkey, saving his life
In this part of the film we see Shrek show heroic acts by saving Donkey and Fionaās life multiple times, even if he does seem grumpy and uninterested in their company/friendship
Princess Fiona doesnāt know Shrek is an ogre as he has the helmet on, but she wants to kiss him as he saved her and thinks he is her true love
Shrek laughs hysterically when she says Shrek is her true love
When Shrek removes his helmet Fiona is upset about it and after she acts up Shrek picks her up and takes her back by force as he wants his swamp back
He speaks quite bluntly to her and seems very annoyed by her wanting to stop, he just wants to keep walking in quiet back to Farquaad
They rest in the evening and while Fiona rests indoors Donkey and Shrek sit on a cliff looking at the stars
Donkey keeps pestering Shrek about why he wants to keep everyone out of his swamp but Shrek doesnāt tell him, although we can see by his hesitant body movements and anger building in his facial expressions and body language that he definitely has something on his mind
When Donkey asks who Shrek wants to keep out so bad he replies by shouting angrilyĀ āEveryone!ā
He opens up to Donkey during this scene talking about how everyone sees him badly as heās an ogre, so he feels better off being alone
He shows a lot of upset facial expressions in this scene and has softer tones of voice, his ears also point down when he is upsetĀ
The next day Fiona makes them breakfast and apologises to Shrek for her rude attitude at first, after this her and Shrek become more talkative and get along much better
He smiles with her more, shows more eye contact and makes more conversation
His walk is less heavy and aggressiveĀ too, he seems much more positive and engaged in conversation with the princess
He is impressed by Fionaās fight moves when they get into trouble
His eyes are softer when he looks at her and his eye contact is more focused on her when she speaks
Fiona trips and falls on Shrek and he turns his head and smiles awkwardly for a moment, when Donkey catches them he throws her off and stands back up. He stutters when trying to explain himself to Donkey and when Donkey hints there is something going on between Shrek and Fiona, Shrek saysĀ ā Come on, thatās the last thing on my mind.ā Shrek rolls his eyes very strongly when saying this and moves his arms a lot, showing that he is lying through his animated gestures
Shrek and Fiona flirt and bond a lot more during their travels back, showing more smiles and softer movements in the animations
Him and Fiona eat together at the campfire
When she looks over at the castle down the hill and says about it, Shrek looks downwards and his facial features drop a bit showing he is sad, then he sayĀ āmaybe you can come visit me in the swamp sometime.ā He talks about how heāll cook anything for her
His eyes and stuttering speech suggest he is shy around her and gets nervous, this is the first time we see him show any worry or fear in the film so far
While they are talking their heads slowly lean in as if theyāre going to kiss, but they are interrupted by Donkey and Shrek looks disappointed about this
When Fiona sees the sun is setting she hides indoors and Shrek walks off upset on his own
Shrek returns later that night with flowers for her, being hesitant about knocking on the door seeming shy and doubtful of himself, we see vulnerability in him
Donkey is inside with Fiona and he finds out she turns into an ogre every sunset, and is discussing it with her out loud before Shrek overhears them from outside
Fiona talks about herself saying how nobody would love an ugly ogre, Shrek thinks she is just human so assumes she is talking about him
When he hears this, his face drops and so do his ears, a lot of sudden sadness is shown in just this short scene
He hears part of the conversation out of context and thinks theyāre talking about him
He throws the flowers and storms off with a strong and powerful walk
When Fiona decided to tell Shrek sheās an ogre he is too annoyed and wonāt let her speak
His eyebrows are angled downwards and he is gritting his teeth looking mad at her
Shrek gets Farquaad and his men to collect her themselves instead of Shrek escorting her back
Shrek has a constant frown when back at his swamp alone, from his effortless actions and downbeat movements it shows he is heartbroken about the princess and is lost without her
When Donkey comes to Shrekās swamp and finally gets an apology from Shrek, he tells Shrek what Fiona really said and he has a sudden change of heart and decides to get to the wedding as soon as possible to prevent it. His attitude here is very uplifting and heroic
He interruptsĀ the wedding just in time and grabs Fiona, saying she canāt marry Farquaad because all he wants is to become King. When the church discovers Shrek loves Fiona everybody laughs at him and he looks embarrassed and ashamed. Once again we see his ears, head and eyes pointing downwards showing his sadness again
Fiona transforms into an ogre
After this, the guards are ordered to kill Shrek and lock Fiona awayĀ
Shrek reaches for her hand but is overpowered by the men, but gets angry and fights some of them off. We see him roar and growl, showing his teeth and angry body language like earlier in the film with the villagers
He throws half off the men off him and whistles for Donkey to enter the church riding the dragon
The dragon eats Farquaad and saves them, Shrek tells Fiona he loves her in a calm voice. They kiss each other and she starts to float surrounded by glowing light, as if the ogre curse is going to be lifted.
She falls to the ground and Shrek helps her up, she is still an ogre
She says āBut I donāt understand, Iām supposed to be beautiful.ā Shrek looks at her and smiles sayingĀ āBut you are beautiful.āĀ
They kiss again and Shrek looks truly happy and loving compared to the beginning of the film
Shrek and Fiona get married