How Do Filmmakers of Shrek Use Representation, Camera Angles, Lighting and Sound Effects in the Opening of the Film to Set the Scene for an Unconventional Fairytale?

How do filmmakers of Shrek use representation, Camera Angles, lighting and sound effects in the opening of the film to set the scene for an unconventional fairytale?

By Ammaar Hussein

In this essay, I am going to talk about the characters of Shrek and Lord

Farquaad. The ogre, Shrek is more like a prince and Lord Farquaad is more like an ogre. In traditional fairy tales the prince would be the good guy and the ogre would be the bad guy many are man eating beasts. The prince usually rescues the princess and they marry and live happily ever after.

It is the same things that refer to conventional fairy tales such as where the giant chases the Jack and the Beanstalk or where Snow White is rescued by a handsome prince and lives happily ever after. It is similar to Shrek when Princess Fiona is rescued by Shrek and at the ending Shrek and Fiona gets married and lives happily ever after.

The use of presentational devices in film e.g. camera shots, lighting, special effect and sound effects to help us to understand the characters in a helpful way and their feelings and emotion. There are many camera shots but I will only choose three camera shots in the film of Shrek. These are going to be: close-up, low angle and high angle shot. At the beginning of the film, Shrek scares the storybook characters away. He appears as a traditional ogre in the beginning when he talks by himself.

Representation means that it shows people, places, objects, events, and cultural identities in a particular way for a particular effect. The description of Shrek shows how unconventional he is. The opening of the film was very funny and hilarious. He is quiet different from us. For example he baths or showers in a different way like putting mud and bird poo on his teeth. For me, it is very amusing and ridiculous at the beginning. His behaviour of his own personality is like an unconventional ogre.

Human beings cannot talk to or understand animals. A donkey cannot speak in real life but can in fairy tales stories. . Shrek is quite different from us, because he has a conversation with a donkey. Another way in which Shrek is represented as an unconventional ogre is the way he behaves in a human-like manner. He speaks well but the voice is quiet harsh and loud. The evidence is when the torch men came, they were shocked and panicked. The way Shrek is represented here is effective in setting the scene for an unconventional fairy tale because the audience thinks that ogres should be evil but Shrek is happy, cheerful and joyful character.

As the movie goes on we can see how sometimes the ogre Shrek is shown as a conventional ogre. The close-up makes Shrek seem large and the others small. Close-up shots are also useful for understanding the viewer's attention on the characters emotions. An example of a close ups of the characters facial expressions was where Fiona and Shrek are about to kiss but were interrupted by a Donkey.

Tension is created when Lord Farquaad is introduced. Instead of focusing on his face, the camera shows parts of his upper body and his feet. Low angle shots are effectively used to show Lord Farquaad looking down on Shrek and Donkey in the tournament scene. They show how Shrek looking up to Lord Farquaad who is sitting on high seat. Another example of high angle shot is when Shrek visits Lord Farquaad's Castle, the camera moves from ground level upwards to reveal his Tower. This is called high angle shot. It is useful because it makes Lord Farquaad seems large and superior and Shrek and Donkey appear small and weak. In a conventional fairy tales, ogre looks big, ugly and fierce. Normally, ogres like Shrek would not be frightened of humans.

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