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Sunday 30 September 2007
Conventions of Animation
Note: All examples are from Shrek the Third
- Comedy- A key element in animation films and cartoons. The animation genre is primarily targeted at kids, however older ages are also appealed by it, therefore they tend to contain comedy which engages and makes kids enjoy them. It is also a convention which makes the genre a success. Comedy is a key element of 'Shrek' and in the films, Donkey (Eddie Murphy) provides the comedy. You could say that Donkey optimises the comedy aspect of animation that makes it so successful. In turn, now thanks to the introduction of Puss in Boots, he has a comedy partner. A great example of the pairs double act (see example)
For example: (Puss with Donkey's voice)"How in the christian anderson am I supposed to parade around in these goofy boots?", (Donkey with Puss voice) Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, be very careful E-aw! those boots were made in Madrid by the finest E-aw!
- Action- Most genres contain the element of action in order to engage their audience, and animation is no exception.
For example: Prince Charming and the fariy tale villains taking over the kingdom of Far Far Away.
- Adventure- All animations contain an adventure which keeps the narrative going and to make the film more interesting.
For example: Shrek, Donkey and Puss travel together on a quest to find Arthur (Artie)
- Good vs Evil- As in nearly all films, Propps Good Vs Evil is used. This battle has always brought success to many films. No matter what happens the bad guy always loses, dont we just love it.
For example: Shrek vs Prince Charming
Saturday 29 September 2007
Shrek the Third: Premiere
- A big appeal of animation is the people behind the voices of the characters. Just by looking at the list of BIG famous stars lending their voices for Shrek the Third:
1. Shrek- Mike Myers
2. Fiona- Cameron Diaz
3. Donkey- Eddie Murphy
4. Puss in Boots- Antonio Banderas
5. Artie- Justin Timberlake 6. King Harold- John Cleese
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Looking at that list, it illustrates one reason why Shrek and other animations are appealing, not only because of what you see but the people who bring the characters voices to life. Also as you watch the videos, you may notice that there are hundreds and hundreds of people who have turned up to the Shrek the Third world premiere in California illustrating the popularity of Shrek and the animation genre. Who says it’s in decline?
- Antonio Banderas: “A landmark for animation movies and movies in general”
- Eddie Murphy:
“The Shrek movies I think are really really special and everybody loves them and all the characters are funny and it’s great to be involved in something like that.”
“Little kids know me as Donkey; they come to me and do Donkey impressions on the streets and stuff”. - Cameron Diaz:
“I think with Shrek, it holds up to the other two, but it definitely stands alone, there’s a lot in this movie for everyone once again and I think it opens up to even more audiences if it is possible” - Justin Timberlake:
“My favourite thing about Shrek is it meets the 8 year olds and the 38 year olds.”- This is a big factor to the success of animation. It draws in LARGE audiences. Although the film’s primary target is kids, the film also appeals to “38 year olds”. It “meets on every level”. - Cheri Oteri:
“There’s so many characters that people like in Shrek, the humour is quick, it’s sophisticated, yet there’s something for everybody.”
- The movie has a modern edge”
- “Shrek is Shrek, everybody knows Shrek”
- Rupert Everett
“The thing I like most about Shrek is how the images become more sophisticated”. - Shrek 4 coming out in 2010
Monday 24 September 2007
Tuesday 11 September 2007
Shrek2 Extra DVD Feature- 'Making of Shrek2'
- Here is a list of quotes said from the feature which demonstrate that CGI animation is still getting better and that the future is still bright.
Note: Comparing animation development between Shrek and Shrek 2 as Shrek the Third is not out on DVD - Andrew Adamson (Writer/Director)
o Shrek 2 “showcases some of the most astonishing breakthroughs ever in computer animation”.- Shrek 2 is more advanced than any other animation before it. Aspects such as fur (wet), lighting, hair, clothing, shade, fire, effect’s etc. all of many new things that are now possible.
o “Technology is advancing”.- As we all know technology is advancing at an alarmingly fast rate that it’s unbelievable. This also means that CGI animation will also advance and get better and better. Things that are not possible in reality can be brought into the virtual world in ways unimaginable thanks to CGI. Whilst at the moment to many of us, CGI animation films already look amazingly realistic, as technology advances, its only going to get better!
o “More fur, more hair, more water, more smoke, rain, effect, fire, all those things that were hard and were developing last time we were able to launch off this time”.-Things that were hard to achieve in the past are now achievable. - Donkey and Puss getting soaked and having wet fur ‘has never been seen in a CG film before”.- A breakthrough in animation as things that could never be achieved in the past are starting to become reality. Toy Story (1995) could have never done this if they tried as it was not possible then. This shows how far animation has come in just over a decade (13 years).
- Ken Bilenberg (visual effects supervisor)
o “Spent a fixed time developing rain systems and moving clouds” and “snow”.- Breakthroughs in the development of animation.
o “Shrek 2 has more “human characters”- Most CGI animations don’t have as many human character’s as ‘Shrek 2’ has. The film has gone into a new area and has been successful.
o “There’s a lighting technique which we have developed, a shader that we call sub-surface scattering which provides a translucent sea level.
o “Another lighting technique called the bounce shader”, “This is a form of global lumination where you simulate the way light bounces around generally, not just with the skin but within the room”. – the animation world is becoming more realistic and life like that even the shadows on the skin move like they naturally do in real life. Whilst the animators are able to create skin like texture in the virtual world. - Kelly Asbury (Director)
o Shrek 2 is more detailed and intricate, more realistic, you could almost walk into the movie”- the animation has become so realistic and advanced that when watching an animation is feels as though we are in/part of the movie.’ - Aron Warner (Producer)
o “There are many things we wanted to do in the first Shrek particularly with lighting that was just not really achievable on the scale that we needed to achieve them".- Animation is developing in a way that shows that animation is still growing and getting better. - Jeffery Katzenberg (Partner, DreamWorks SKG,, Executive producer Shrek 2)
o “When you see Shrek 2 and you see after a mere three years what we are able to realise of our artist dreams and imagination in that film, it kind of takes your breath away”. –This quote illustrates that animation is still developing at a fast rate and is getting better and better. In the space of ‘three years’ they have managed to achieve things that were not possible for the first Shrek. CGI Animation is still developing.
Key Quote: - ED Leonard (Chief technology officer DreamWorks SKG)
o “Computer graphics is still relatively a young industry”.- This quote illustrates that computer graphics has yet to reach its FULL potential as its still has a big future ahead. - “ In designing character clothing that moves, wrinkles and reacts to light like real cloth”.
Monday 10 September 2007
Animation
The History of Animation
Source/s: http://library.thinkquest.org/C0110532/Timeline.htm
http://www.answers.com/topic/animation?cat=biz-fin
http://www.vintageip.com/Term.html
Animation is involves individual frames (with a slight difference) put together to create a moving image. Since 1906, when James Stuart Blackton (America filmmaker) created a small animated film using stop-motion and drawing, the idea intrigued many and so animation began. However, J.S.Blackton was not the single “creator” of animation, as during this period of time several other people were also carrying out projects which where considered as animation. Other contributors to the birth of animation where people such as Georges Méliès (the creator of the special effects film), Winsor Mcay (with a team of artist) who painstakingly created highly detailed animations e.g. ‘Gertie the Dinosaur’ by repetitively re-drawing each frame (backgrounds and animation). Émile Cohl who in 1908 drew cartoon strips and created a film titled ‘fantasmagorie’ and Otto Messmer (creator of the character ‘Felix the Cat’).
Whilst during this time period the idea of animation of developing and growing it was is 1831, when the phenakistoscope was invented by the Belgian Joseph Plateau. The phenakistoscope disc (phenakistoscope coming from the Greek word meaning ‘deceiving viewer’) was an animation device using optical features to give the onlooker the illusion of animation. Other animation devices based from the phenakistoscope followed such as zoetrope and stroboscope.
A Phenakistoscope disc
CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) is a modern name for computer animation. It is an application of the field of computer graphics used for things such as special effects in films. 1973 was the year in which CGI began. In the film ‘Westwood’, 2D CGI was used, whilst in ‘Futureworld’ (1976), 3D CGI was used. A year later and in 1977, Star Wars used CGI to create the Death Star (a weapon created by Darth Vader to destroy planets). It wasn’t until 1985, when the first ever CGI character was created to star in the film ‘Young Sherlock Holmes’
However it was in 1993, when Spielberg’s famous ‘Jurassic Park’ hit the big screens that CGI really stepped up. The dinosaurs within the movie were made to look realistic and lifelike that its impact changed the movie industry forever. This also saw the time when stop-motion animation started to decline as Hollywood converted to digital effects.
However CGI came into its own in 1995, when Disney (Pixar) released the first ever computer generated feature length motion picture ‘Toy Story’. The film generated a staggering $191,773,049 and $358,100,000 worldwide. From then on the animation industry was born as major companies such as Blue Sky Studios (1997), DreamWorks Animation SKG (1994) and many others followed on. CGI has become so big that it has almost become essential in many big films e.g. big Hollywood blockbusters such as ‘I, Robot’ (2004), Starring Will Smith, use CGI to create special effects or Spiderman 3 (2007) ‘Venom’ etc.
Throughout computer generated animation films, DreamWorks ‘Shrek’ series has been the biggest animation success, however recently the individual genre of CGI films has been in decline, although CGI will now almost always be used in films to create special effects. But as it computers, technology is developing at an alarmingly fast rate and so therefore animation and CGI will only get better and in doing so revive the CGI genre. In fact the genre is way ‘forward’ according to Colin Kennedy, editor of the Empire Magazine. “Computer animation is the way forward, according to Kennedy, simply because production techniques are getting so much cheaper and cost effective’. In addition Kennedy believes that it’s down to a ‘strong story’ and ‘sharp scripts’ that holds the success of animation. Whilst all the visual effects remain dazzling and realistic, all successful films begin with a strong storyline/script.
Types of animation
Source/s: http://library.thinkquest.org/C0110532/Types.htm
http://www.answers.com/topic/animation?cat=biz-fin
There are 3 main different types of animation:
1. traditional/cel/plain animation
2. Stop-motion animation 3.
Computer animation ___________________________________________________________________ Traditional/cel/plain animation
This is the original form of animation whereby the animation is created by hand drawings on cels. Nowadays this form of animation is obsolete due to computers and technology.
Example/s: Walt Disney’s ‘The Lion King’.
Full animation
The most widely-known style in animation, known for its realistic and often very detailed art.
Examples: All Disney and most Ghibli feature length animation, The Secret of NIMH, The Iron Giant
Limited animation
A cheaper process of making animated cartoons that does not follow a "realistic" approach.
Examples: The Flintstones, Yellow Submarine
Rubber hose
The characters are usually very "cartoony", and the animators have a lot of artistic freedom as rubber hose doesn't have to follow the laws of physics and anatomy to the same degree as the other main styles of animation.
Examples: Early Mickey Mouse cartoons, Popeye, Ren and Stimpy
Rotoscoping
A technique where animators trace live action movement, frame by frame, either by directly copying an actors outlines into an animated drawing (e.g. Ralph Bakshi), or use rotoscoped material as a basis and inspiration for a more fluid and expressive animation (e.g. Disney).
Examples: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Gulliver's Travels, American Pop
(Copy/pasted from the source: http://www.answers.com/topic/animation?cat=biz-fin
(hyperlinks)
Stop-motion animation
Stop motion aka motion picture animation involves animation whereby the animator can ‘physically’ change the scene. Objects and materials such as clay, puppets, paper etc. are used to create a scene. The scene is set up and the animator takes a photo of the scene and then changes/moves the puppet/clay model when the character is making a move and then takes a photo again. This form of animation is one of the most tedious and complicated types of animation.
Example/s: Wallace and Gromit (clay animation)
Clay animation
A clay animation scene from a TV commercial.
Often abbreviated to claymation, this is a type of stop-motion animation using figures made of clay or a similar malleable material. The figures may have an armature or wire frame inside of them, similar to puppet animation (below). Alternatively, the figures may be made entirely of clay, such as in the films of Bruce Bickford where clay creatures morph into a variety of different shapes.
Examples: Morph, Wallace and Gromit; The Trap Door
Cutout animation
A type of stop-motion animation formed by moving 2-dimensional pieces of material such as paper or cloth.
Examples: Terry Gilliam' animated sequences of Monty Python's Flying Circus
Silhouette animation
A monochrome variant of cutout animation in which the characters are only visible as black silhouettes.
Example: The Adventures of Prince Achmed and other films by Lotte Reiniger, Princes et princesses and some short films by Michel Ocelot
Graphic animation
In this form of animation, model animated characters interact with, and are a part of, the live-action world.
Examples: The films of Ray Harryhausen (Jason and the Argonauts) and Willis O'Brien (King Kong)
Go motion
Go motion is a variation of stop motion animation, and was co-developed by Industrial Light & Magic and Phil Tippett for the film The Empire Strikes Back.
Example: Star Wars: The Empire Strikes back
Object animation
Object animation is a form of stop motion animation that involves the animated movements of any non-drawn objects such as toys, blocks, dolls, etc. which are not fully malleable, such as clay or wax, and not designed to look like a recognizable human or animal character.
Example: Robot Chicken
Pixilation
Pixilation (from pixilated) is a stop motion technique where live actors are used as a frame-by-frame subject in an animated film, by repeatedly posing while one or more frame is taken and changing pose slightly before the next frame or frames. The actor becomes a kind of living stop motion puppet.
Examples: Neighbours
Puppet animation
Puppet animation typically involves puppet figures interacting with each other in a constructed environment, in contrast to the real-world interaction in model animation (above). The puppets generally have an armature inside of them to keep them still and steady as well as constraining them to move at particular joints.
Examples: The Tale of the Fox, the films of Jiří Trnka, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Robot Chicken
Brickfilm
Graphic Animation is a variation of stop motion (and possibly more conceptually associated with traditional flat cel animation and paper drawing animation, but still technically qualifying as stop motion) consisting of the animation of photographs (in whole or in parts) and other non-drawn flat visual graphic material, such as newspaper and magazine clippings.
Examples are Frank Morris' 1973 Oscar-winning short film, Frank Film, and Charles Braverman's Condensed Cream of the Beatles (1972), originally produced for Geraldo Rivera's late night TV show of the time, Goodbye America.
Puppetoon
Puppetoon animation, also called replacement animation, is a type of stop-motion animation. In traditional stop-motion, the puppets are made with moveable parts which are repositioned between frames to create the illusion of motion when the frames are played in rapid sequence. In puppetoon animation the puppets are rigid; each is typically used in a single frame and then "replaced" with a separate, near-duplicate puppet for the next frame. Thus puppetoon animation requires many separate figures.
Example: The Tale of the Fox
Copy/pasted from source: http://www.answers.com/topic/animation?cat=biz-fin (hyperlinks)
Computer animation
This type is the newest form of animation. This form of animation involves the use of creating a film through the use of computers. Computer animation has slowly now become important in terms of creating many spectacular films. For example Spielberg’s ‘Jurassic Park’ used CGI animation to create impressive scenes. The computer animation also saved time and cost as it did not require the long task of building model dinosaurs. CGI also came to use when required for things such as stunts and creating large crowds without having to gather lots of people etc. The two types of computer animation are 2D and 3D.
2D animation
Using 2D Bitmap graphics or 2D vector graphics to create and animate. Analog computer animation (Scanimate), Flash animation and PowerPoint animation are other forms of 2D animation.
3D animation
The figures are created using polygons.
Examples: Shrek, Finding Nemo
Cel-shaded animation-
a form of computer animation which makes the computer graphics appear to be hand drawn
Examples: Walt Disney films
Morph-target animation
Morph target animation is stored as a series of vertex positions. In each keyframe of the animation, the vertices are moved to a different position.
Skeletal animation
Skeletal animation, sometimes referred to as rigging, is a technique in computer animation, particularly in the animation of vertebrates, in which a character is represented in two parts: a surface representation used to draw the character (called the skin) and a hierarchical set of bones used for animation only (called the skeleton).
Motion capture animation
Using sensors the actions/movement patterns are captured by the computer allowing realistic viewing e.g. if a person, hooked up to sensors, goes through the act of batting a ball, that motion trail can be used to simulate a more realistic baseball player in the computer.
Example: The Incredible Hulk (2003)
Crowd stimulation
Instead of having to gather large crowds of people, the computer stimulates the movement of large crowds.
Examples: Lord of the Rings
(Copy/paste from source: http://www.answers.com/topic/animation?cat=biz-fin (hyperlinks)
Process of Computer Generated Imagery Animation
Source/s: http://www.dreamworksanimation.com/dwa/opencms/inside/how_we_make_movies/intro/story.html
Note: It takes 4 years to produce a CGI animation film
1. Script
The first step to creating a CGI animation film is to make a script. ‘Great films begin with great concepts’. The best films all begin with a great script.
2. Storyboard
The script is then passed onto the artist who then translates the script into images via drawings. The drawings are then digitally photographed and put together to create a story reel (this is then worked with for 18 months)
3.Visual development
The visual development team starts to develop the tone and style of the film by creating all the characters, scenes and objects.
4 .Casting
Then people are casted to be the voices of the animated characters.
5.Modeling
From the initial designs the modelers will construct the digital 3D model that will be used for planning and animation
6.Rigging
The modelers start with a armature (wire frame sculptures) which allows the animator to use geometry to work out the type of movements the characters can make.
7.Basic surfaces
Once the armature has been setup, we can begin to add basic surfaces. It is this simplified “puppet in a box“or digital marionette that we use in our next step.
8.Layout
The layout artist team use blocks and shapes to block out the scene. The blocks and shapes act as a blueprint.
9.Character animation
The characters are then animated and brought to life by using the actions made from the rigging phase. Then they are also synchronized with their voices
10.Effects
Effects are added to make the scenes realistic
11.Finishing touches
Things such as adding sound effects, adjust correct colours, add music soundtracks etc.
A List of Computer animation companies
Walt Disney Pixar (Pixar was purchased by Disney in 1991)- Toy Story (first ever feature length CGI animated film), A Bugs Life, The incredibles, Monsters Inc
DreamWorks Animation SKG- Shrek, Madagascar
Warner Bros- Looney Tunes, Pinky and the Brain
Blue Sky Studios- Robots, Ice Age
PDI (Pacific Data Images)
Sony Pictures Animation
Aardman Animation
Source/s: http://library.thinkquest.org/C0110532/Timeline.htm
http://www.answers.com/topic/animation?cat=biz-fin
http://www.vintageip.com/Term.html
Animation is involves individual frames (with a slight difference) put together to create a moving image. Since 1906, when James Stuart Blackton (America filmmaker) created a small animated film using stop-motion and drawing, the idea intrigued many and so animation began. However, J.S.Blackton was not the single “creator” of animation, as during this period of time several other people were also carrying out projects which where considered as animation. Other contributors to the birth of animation where people such as Georges Méliès (the creator of the special effects film), Winsor Mcay (with a team of artist) who painstakingly created highly detailed animations e.g. ‘Gertie the Dinosaur’ by repetitively re-drawing each frame (backgrounds and animation). Émile Cohl who in 1908 drew cartoon strips and created a film titled ‘fantasmagorie’ and Otto Messmer (creator of the character ‘Felix the Cat’).
Whilst during this time period the idea of animation of developing and growing it was is 1831, when the phenakistoscope was invented by the Belgian Joseph Plateau. The phenakistoscope disc (phenakistoscope coming from the Greek word meaning ‘deceiving viewer’) was an animation device using optical features to give the onlooker the illusion of animation. Other animation devices based from the phenakistoscope followed such as zoetrope and stroboscope.
A Phenakistoscope disc
In the early years of animation, people had to draw out each frame by frame which was a mind-numbing task; however it was in 1910 when the introduction of cels that animation took its next steps forward. Cels (celluloid) are ‘sheets of clear plastic, containing the images of the characters, which are placed over a background, and then photographed in succession to give the illusion of movement in the completed film’. This in turn allowed the animator to focus on the animation and not having to continuously re-draw the backgrounds again and again.
A frame from ‘Gertie the Dinosaur’ (1914)
A frame from ‘Gertie the Dinosaur’ (1914)
History of CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) Animation
Source/s: http://www.answers.com/Computer%20Generated%20Imagery
http://www.answers.com/topic/toy-story?cat=entertainment
http://www.blueskystudios.com/content/company.php
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?inarticle_id=77525&in_page_id=1773
Source/s: http://www.answers.com/Computer%20Generated%20Imagery
http://www.answers.com/topic/toy-story?cat=entertainment
http://www.blueskystudios.com/content/company.php
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?inarticle_id=77525&in_page_id=1773
CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) is a modern name for computer animation. It is an application of the field of computer graphics used for things such as special effects in films. 1973 was the year in which CGI began. In the film ‘Westwood’, 2D CGI was used, whilst in ‘Futureworld’ (1976), 3D CGI was used. A year later and in 1977, Star Wars used CGI to create the Death Star (a weapon created by Darth Vader to destroy planets). It wasn’t until 1985, when the first ever CGI character was created to star in the film ‘Young Sherlock Holmes’
However it was in 1993, when Spielberg’s famous ‘Jurassic Park’ hit the big screens that CGI really stepped up. The dinosaurs within the movie were made to look realistic and lifelike that its impact changed the movie industry forever. This also saw the time when stop-motion animation started to decline as Hollywood converted to digital effects.
However CGI came into its own in 1995, when Disney (Pixar) released the first ever computer generated feature length motion picture ‘Toy Story’. The film generated a staggering $191,773,049 and $358,100,000 worldwide. From then on the animation industry was born as major companies such as Blue Sky Studios (1997), DreamWorks Animation SKG (1994) and many others followed on. CGI has become so big that it has almost become essential in many big films e.g. big Hollywood blockbusters such as ‘I, Robot’ (2004), Starring Will Smith, use CGI to create special effects or Spiderman 3 (2007) ‘Venom’ etc.
Throughout computer generated animation films, DreamWorks ‘Shrek’ series has been the biggest animation success, however recently the individual genre of CGI films has been in decline, although CGI will now almost always be used in films to create special effects. But as it computers, technology is developing at an alarmingly fast rate and so therefore animation and CGI will only get better and in doing so revive the CGI genre. In fact the genre is way ‘forward’ according to Colin Kennedy, editor of the Empire Magazine. “Computer animation is the way forward, according to Kennedy, simply because production techniques are getting so much cheaper and cost effective’. In addition Kennedy believes that it’s down to a ‘strong story’ and ‘sharp scripts’ that holds the success of animation. Whilst all the visual effects remain dazzling and realistic, all successful films begin with a strong storyline/script.
Types of animation
Source/s: http://library.thinkquest.org/C0110532/Types.htm
http://www.answers.com/topic/animation?cat=biz-fin
There are 3 main different types of animation:
1. traditional/cel/plain animation
2. Stop-motion animation 3.
Computer animation ___________________________________________________________________ Traditional/cel/plain animation
This is the original form of animation whereby the animation is created by hand drawings on cels. Nowadays this form of animation is obsolete due to computers and technology.
Example/s: Walt Disney’s ‘The Lion King’.
Full animation
The most widely-known style in animation, known for its realistic and often very detailed art.
Examples: All Disney and most Ghibli feature length animation, The Secret of NIMH, The Iron Giant
Limited animation
A cheaper process of making animated cartoons that does not follow a "realistic" approach.
Examples: The Flintstones, Yellow Submarine
Rubber hose
The characters are usually very "cartoony", and the animators have a lot of artistic freedom as rubber hose doesn't have to follow the laws of physics and anatomy to the same degree as the other main styles of animation.
Examples: Early Mickey Mouse cartoons, Popeye, Ren and Stimpy
Rotoscoping
A technique where animators trace live action movement, frame by frame, either by directly copying an actors outlines into an animated drawing (e.g. Ralph Bakshi), or use rotoscoped material as a basis and inspiration for a more fluid and expressive animation (e.g. Disney).
Examples: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Gulliver's Travels, American Pop
(Copy/pasted from the source: http://www.answers.com/topic/animation?cat=biz-fin
(hyperlinks)
Stop-motion animation
Stop motion aka motion picture animation involves animation whereby the animator can ‘physically’ change the scene. Objects and materials such as clay, puppets, paper etc. are used to create a scene. The scene is set up and the animator takes a photo of the scene and then changes/moves the puppet/clay model when the character is making a move and then takes a photo again. This form of animation is one of the most tedious and complicated types of animation.
Example/s: Wallace and Gromit (clay animation)
Clay animation
A clay animation scene from a TV commercial.
Often abbreviated to claymation, this is a type of stop-motion animation using figures made of clay or a similar malleable material. The figures may have an armature or wire frame inside of them, similar to puppet animation (below). Alternatively, the figures may be made entirely of clay, such as in the films of Bruce Bickford where clay creatures morph into a variety of different shapes.
Examples: Morph, Wallace and Gromit; The Trap Door
Cutout animation
A type of stop-motion animation formed by moving 2-dimensional pieces of material such as paper or cloth.
Examples: Terry Gilliam' animated sequences of Monty Python's Flying Circus
Silhouette animation
A monochrome variant of cutout animation in which the characters are only visible as black silhouettes.
Example: The Adventures of Prince Achmed and other films by Lotte Reiniger, Princes et princesses and some short films by Michel Ocelot
Graphic animation
Graphic Animation is a variation of stop motion (and possibly more conceptually associated with traditional flat cel animation and paper drawing animation, but still technically qualifying as stop motion) consisting of the animation of photographs (in whole or in parts) and other non-drawn flat visual graphic material, such as newspaper and magazine clippings.
Examples: Frank Morris' 1973 Oscar-winning short film, Frank Film
Model animation
Examples: Frank Morris' 1973 Oscar-winning short film, Frank Film
Model animation
In this form of animation, model animated characters interact with, and are a part of, the live-action world.
Examples: The films of Ray Harryhausen (Jason and the Argonauts) and Willis O'Brien (King Kong)
Go motion
Go motion is a variation of stop motion animation, and was co-developed by Industrial Light & Magic and Phil Tippett for the film The Empire Strikes Back.
Example: Star Wars: The Empire Strikes back
Object animation
Object animation is a form of stop motion animation that involves the animated movements of any non-drawn objects such as toys, blocks, dolls, etc. which are not fully malleable, such as clay or wax, and not designed to look like a recognizable human or animal character.
Example: Robot Chicken
Pixilation
Pixilation (from pixilated) is a stop motion technique where live actors are used as a frame-by-frame subject in an animated film, by repeatedly posing while one or more frame is taken and changing pose slightly before the next frame or frames. The actor becomes a kind of living stop motion puppet.
Examples: Neighbours
Puppet animation
Puppet animation typically involves puppet figures interacting with each other in a constructed environment, in contrast to the real-world interaction in model animation (above). The puppets generally have an armature inside of them to keep them still and steady as well as constraining them to move at particular joints.
Examples: The Tale of the Fox, the films of Jiří Trnka, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Robot Chicken
Brickfilm
Graphic Animation is a variation of stop motion (and possibly more conceptually associated with traditional flat cel animation and paper drawing animation, but still technically qualifying as stop motion) consisting of the animation of photographs (in whole or in parts) and other non-drawn flat visual graphic material, such as newspaper and magazine clippings.
Examples are Frank Morris' 1973 Oscar-winning short film, Frank Film, and Charles Braverman's Condensed Cream of the Beatles (1972), originally produced for Geraldo Rivera's late night TV show of the time, Goodbye America.
Puppetoon
Puppetoon animation, also called replacement animation, is a type of stop-motion animation. In traditional stop-motion, the puppets are made with moveable parts which are repositioned between frames to create the illusion of motion when the frames are played in rapid sequence. In puppetoon animation the puppets are rigid; each is typically used in a single frame and then "replaced" with a separate, near-duplicate puppet for the next frame. Thus puppetoon animation requires many separate figures.
Example: The Tale of the Fox
Copy/pasted from source: http://www.answers.com/topic/animation?cat=biz-fin (hyperlinks)
Computer animation
This type is the newest form of animation. This form of animation involves the use of creating a film through the use of computers. Computer animation has slowly now become important in terms of creating many spectacular films. For example Spielberg’s ‘Jurassic Park’ used CGI animation to create impressive scenes. The computer animation also saved time and cost as it did not require the long task of building model dinosaurs. CGI also came to use when required for things such as stunts and creating large crowds without having to gather lots of people etc. The two types of computer animation are 2D and 3D.
2D animation
Using 2D Bitmap graphics or 2D vector graphics to create and animate. Analog computer animation (Scanimate), Flash animation and PowerPoint animation are other forms of 2D animation.
3D animation
The figures are created using polygons.
Examples: Shrek, Finding Nemo
Cel-shaded animation-
a form of computer animation which makes the computer graphics appear to be hand drawn
Examples: Walt Disney films
Morph-target animation
Morph target animation is stored as a series of vertex positions. In each keyframe of the animation, the vertices are moved to a different position.
Skeletal animation
Skeletal animation, sometimes referred to as rigging, is a technique in computer animation, particularly in the animation of vertebrates, in which a character is represented in two parts: a surface representation used to draw the character (called the skin) and a hierarchical set of bones used for animation only (called the skeleton).
Motion capture animation
Using sensors the actions/movement patterns are captured by the computer allowing realistic viewing e.g. if a person, hooked up to sensors, goes through the act of batting a ball, that motion trail can be used to simulate a more realistic baseball player in the computer.
Example: The Incredible Hulk (2003)
Crowd stimulation
Instead of having to gather large crowds of people, the computer stimulates the movement of large crowds.
Examples: Lord of the Rings
(Copy/paste from source: http://www.answers.com/topic/animation?cat=biz-fin (hyperlinks)
Process of Computer Generated Imagery Animation
Source/s: http://www.dreamworksanimation.com/dwa/opencms/inside/how_we_make_movies/intro/story.html
Note: It takes 4 years to produce a CGI animation film
1. Script
The first step to creating a CGI animation film is to make a script. ‘Great films begin with great concepts’. The best films all begin with a great script.
2. Storyboard
The script is then passed onto the artist who then translates the script into images via drawings. The drawings are then digitally photographed and put together to create a story reel (this is then worked with for 18 months)
3.Visual development
The visual development team starts to develop the tone and style of the film by creating all the characters, scenes and objects.
4 .Casting
Then people are casted to be the voices of the animated characters.
5.Modeling
From the initial designs the modelers will construct the digital 3D model that will be used for planning and animation
6.Rigging
The modelers start with a armature (wire frame sculptures) which allows the animator to use geometry to work out the type of movements the characters can make.
7.Basic surfaces
Once the armature has been setup, we can begin to add basic surfaces. It is this simplified “puppet in a box“or digital marionette that we use in our next step.
8.Layout
The layout artist team use blocks and shapes to block out the scene. The blocks and shapes act as a blueprint.
9.Character animation
The characters are then animated and brought to life by using the actions made from the rigging phase. Then they are also synchronized with their voices
10.Effects
Effects are added to make the scenes realistic
11.Finishing touches
Things such as adding sound effects, adjust correct colours, add music soundtracks etc.
A List of Computer animation companies
Walt Disney Pixar (Pixar was purchased by Disney in 1991)- Toy Story (first ever feature length CGI animated film), A Bugs Life, The incredibles, Monsters Inc
DreamWorks Animation SKG- Shrek, Madagascar
Warner Bros- Looney Tunes, Pinky and the Brain
Blue Sky Studios- Robots, Ice Age
PDI (Pacific Data Images)
Sony Pictures Animation
Aardman Animation
Shrek key concept questions
Media Representations
Q. Who is being represented? In what way? By whom? Why is the subject being presented in this way? Is the representation fair and accurate? What opportunities exist for self-representation by the subject?
Shrek (Mike Myers) is being represented by the director as not king material due to his looks. Also the idea at ‘An Ogre as King’ does not stereotypically work well as the ogre is represented as a large, big, green monster like creature that lives in the swamp, not running a kingdom. Shrek believes that if he was to run the kingdom, he would not do well as he is ‘not fit for the king’ therefore in the movie we seen Shrek on an adventure to find the only other heir to the throne, Artie. Shrek is also illustrated as being different due to his appearance and in turn he is treated different as others (except Donkey) judge him before they even get to know him. This relates to the saying ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’. This is a fair representation as this does go on within our society in places such as schools were ‘odd’ and ‘different’ students are left out because of there appearance, they are not ‘cool’ to hang around with. Shrek is also represented as the hero of the film however he does not conform to a typical hero stereotype as Shrek being a big green scary ogre would be associated more with the villain however the film has swapped this around and made Shrek the hero and the ‘handsome’ Prince Charming the villain
Q. Who is being represented? In what way? By whom? Why is the subject being presented in this way? Is the representation fair and accurate? What opportunities exist for self-representation by the subject?
Shrek (Mike Myers) is being represented by the director as not king material due to his looks. Also the idea at ‘An Ogre as King’ does not stereotypically work well as the ogre is represented as a large, big, green monster like creature that lives in the swamp, not running a kingdom. Shrek believes that if he was to run the kingdom, he would not do well as he is ‘not fit for the king’ therefore in the movie we seen Shrek on an adventure to find the only other heir to the throne, Artie. Shrek is also illustrated as being different due to his appearance and in turn he is treated different as others (except Donkey) judge him before they even get to know him. This relates to the saying ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’. This is a fair representation as this does go on within our society in places such as schools were ‘odd’ and ‘different’ students are left out because of there appearance, they are not ‘cool’ to hang around with. Shrek is also represented as the hero of the film however he does not conform to a typical hero stereotype as Shrek being a big green scary ogre would be associated more with the villain however the film has swapped this around and made Shrek the hero and the ‘handsome’ Prince Charming the villain 
Shrek’s wife Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) is represented as a powerful female character. When Shrek is captured by Charming, Princess Fiona leads the other female characters in an attempt to rescue her husband. ‘OK girls from here on in, lets take care of business ourselves’. This quote illustrates the female characters control in the situation and in the film. The shot of Fiona and the other female characters posing in an action hero form further illustrates female power. This in turn also reflects our society and how women have more power than before. In addition, Fiona’s representation is also passed onto all the other female characters as well. This representation is fair and accurate as women have gained more power within society and are more equal to men than ever before. 
Donkey (Eddie Murphy) is presented as an ‘annoying talking animal’ and a loyal friend of Shrek’s. Donkey’s ‘positive energy and ever optimistic outlook’ (www.shrek.com) contrasted to Shrek’s grumpier view of the world balances well for the film and for the characters themselves. Donkey is also represented as stereotypical ‘best friend’ in that he’s always s there to support Shrek and cheer him up by his ‘positive energy’. In addition, he as viewed by many is the laughter and comedy of the film 
Another loyal friend of Shrek’s is Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas). Puss in Boots (taken from an old fairly tale) is illustrated as a warrior when in combat and a loyal servant and friend. Clear intertextuality has been used by the director by borrowing features of the Spanish hero ‘Zorro’ including his famous calling card of the letter ‘Z’ carved with a sword which in Puss in Boots case is the letter ‘P’. 
The villain of the narrative Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) is represented as an evil, scheming and hungry for power. However stereotypically the villain appearance tends to be ugly or hideous, whereas the ‘handsome’ Prince Charmings face looks as though ‘it has been carved by the angels themselves’. This in turn contradicts the stereotype of the villain in terms of appearance as the audience would have expected Shrek to be the villain due to his appearance and individual treatment by other characters.Media Language and Forms
Q. What are the denotative and connotative levels of meaning?
Sword- (Deno) Long, Sharp, (Conno) weapon, battle, sharp
¨ Crown- (Deno) A Hat worn on the head and has lots of points, (Conno) king, royalty, rich
¨ Castle- (Deno) A large building with towers, (Conno) royalty, king/queen
¨ Pub- (Deno) building, (Conno) Drinking, alcohol, beer, drown sorrows, public place, meet friends
¨ Baby (Deno) Young born (Conno) “cry”, “poop”, burping, nappies, pram, milk
Q. What is the significance of the text’s connotations?
The significance of the text connotations are that it objects and words in the film contain ideas and meaning. Ideas and lessons can be taught to kids through the film.
Q. What are the non-verbal structures of meaning in the text (e.g. gesture, facial expression, positional communication, clothing, props etc)?
Shrek’s continuously facial expression of ‘no, I can’t run a kingdom, I’m an ogre’ emphasises that he does not want to be king.
Q. What is the significance of the mise-en-scene/sets/settings?
The mise-en-scene allows the audience to watch the film and understand the story whilst the setting (kingdom) allows the audience to know what the film will be about or themes, mood and idea so the film.
Q. What work is being done by the soundtrack/commentary/language of the text?
Parallel music is used in certain scenes to have a more dramatic effect. The dialogue (script) allows the audience to know what a character is saying and understand the story. Also sound effects add to certain aspects of the film e.g. when the food flies towards Shrek, a comic sound effect of objects flying is used to add to the comedy or when Shrek falls out of the bed, comic sound effect is used to add to the comedy.
Q. What are the dominant images and iconography, and what is their relevance to the major themes of the text?
A dominant image/iconography of the text is a king's crown. This is relevant to one of the themes of the texts which involves Shrek finding the next heir to the throne (excluding himself).
Q. What sound and visual techniques are used to convey meaning (e.g. camera positioning, editing; the ways that images and sound are combined to convey meaning)?
Example: Shrek worrying about fatherhood.
Shrek (in his dream) is dancing around merrily in his swamp, however when he enters his house and door slams, a pram appears from the dark with Shrek’s expression being ‘Oh no’ followed by the baby puking and then crying with Shrek frantically trying to stop it crying. Through the baby crying and Shrek unable to control the situation, it conveys the meaning that Shrek is worried about fatherhood. This is then followed by the sound of hundreds of ogre babies appearing which illustrates Shrek state of mind in that he’s worried about fatherhood and the idea of looking after an ogre baby.
Narrative
Q. How is the narrative organised and structured?
The film uses a duel narrative. One side of the narrative involves Shrek adventure with Donkey and Puss in Boots to find Artie and appoint him as king, whilst at the same time another narrative involves Charming ‘charms’ other fairy tale villains to help him take over the kingdom and ‘live happily ever after’ whilst at the same time gaining revenge against Shrek after being defeated in ‘Shrek 2’. In the end of the film both sides of the narrative come together in a final confrontation between good and evil.
Q. How is the audience positioned in relation to the narrative?
As an audience member we feel as though we are part of the kingdom and feel how the characters are feeling towards Prince Charming’s takeover of the kingdom.
Q. How are characters delineated? What is their narrative function? How are heroes and villains created?
Through their actions, mise en scene and sound characters are delineated. Using Propp’s Good vs evil theory, it provides a narrative function. Heroes and villains are created through the aspects of film language. For example the scene involving Prince Charming being humiliated on the stage followed by his words ‘you’ll be sorry’. These words illustrate to the audience that Prince Charming is the villain of the narrative as he has vowed revenge on those who have mocked him.
Q. What techniques of identification and alienation are employed?
Using various close ups such as when Shrek was having a heart to heart with Artie, we as the audience identify with Shrek and understand his feelings to why he is worried about being a father (“my dad tried to eat me”). Whilst techniques such as using aspects of the mise-en-scene and sound alienate Prince Charming at the beginning when people laugh at him for his “boring” performance on the stage.
Q. What is the role of such features as sound, music, iconography, genre, mise-en-scene, editing etc. within the narrative?
Sound/music, which is usually parallel music within the film, helps the audience know whether the scene involves things such as the villain. Example, somber or dark tunes/sound/melodies/music are used when Prince Charming enters the pub with all the fairy tale villains. It also is used to make scenes, especially important scenes more dramatic e.g. Fiona and the princesses coming to rescue Shrek, dramatic music is used to engage the audience and make the scenes more dramatic. Also sound effects such as add to things such as comedy.
Q. What are the major themes of the narrative? What values/ideologies does it embody?
The major themes of the narrative are royalty (New heir to the throne, Artie), parenthood (Shrek and Fiona), revenge (Prince Charming).
Genre
Q. To which genre does the text belong?
The text belongs to the genre of animation.
Q. What are the major generic conventions?
¨ Comedy
¨ Famous star as the voices of the characters
¨ happy ending
¨ good vs evil- good wins
¨ intertextuality (Shrek films mainly)
¨ Non human characters- animals
Q. What are the major iconography features of the text?
One of the major iconography features of the text is a ‘king’s crown’ as the film involves Shrek being reluctant to be the king of Far Far Away and so goes in search for Artie to be the king, whilst Prince Charming is forcefully trying to become the king.
Another iconographic feature is an image of parents and a baby. This is because parenthood is a theme within the film.
Q.What are the major generic themes?
Good Vs Evil is the main generic theme of the film
Q. To what extent are the major characters generically determined?
Q. To what extent are the major characters generically determined?
Although Shrek may not seem like a hero due to his appearance he does fulfil his role as hero like all the other hero characters in other animation films e.g. Woody and Buzzlightyear.
Q. To what extent are the audience’s generic expectations of the text fulfilled or cheated by the text? Does the text conform to the characteristics of the genre, or does it treat them playfully or ironically?
The audience’s generic expectations are fulfilled within the film. Consistent comedy goes on throughout the film, mainly thanks to Donkey, whilst in the battle of good vs evil, the good side triumph. Also the film ends on a happy note as Shrek and Fiona are shown to be enjoying parenthood whereas before they were worrying. However the text does not entirely conform to the characteristics of the genre in that the hero is Shrek, a big, green ogre, whilst the villain is a ‘handsome’ Prince Charming. Stereotypically the hero is supposed to be ‘handsome’ and good looking whilst the villain is big and ugly.
Q. Does the text feature a star, director, a writer etc. who is associated with the genre? What meanings and associations do they have?
The film does not feature a particular star, director or writer however the voices of the characters are carried out by famous stars. Whilst no one in particular is fully associated with the genre, their association within the film gives it a bigger appeal as famous stars such as Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderas, Eddie Murphy, Justin Timberlake, John Cleese etc. attract audiences just by themselves.
Media Institutions
Q. What is the institutional source of the text?
The institutional source of the film Shrek the Third is ‘DreamWorks Animation SKG’.
Q. In what ways has the text been influenced or shaped by the institution which produced it?
DreamWorks Animation SKG sole purpose is to create CGI animated films. By DreamWorks making the film, they have the control to send out their own ideologies and messages towards their audiences e.g. kids, and teach them morals like all ‘fairy tales’ do.
Q. Is the source a public service or commercial institution? What difference does this make to the text?
The source is a public service institution. This makes a difference in that certain things are expected by the audience due to the institution.
Q. Who owns and controls the institution concerned and does it matter?
Paramount owns DreamWorks Animation SKG. Paramount is an American motion picture production and distribution company. By DreamWorks being owned by Paramount it can help appeal to audiences and it does have an effect when it comes to distributing the film.
Q. How has the text been distributed?
The text has been distributed and advertised via trailers and posters before the film. When released it is distributed in cinemas. However, illegally, the film has also been distributed on the internet.
Media Values and Ideologies
Q. What are the major values, ideologies and assumptions underpinning the text or naturalised within it?
¨ One ideology being sent to the audience is parenthood and how it can be both stressful (“crying”, “pooping”) and a joy (strengthen a couples relationship- Shrek and Fiona).
¨ ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’- you should not judge someone just because of their appearance. (Characters who see Shrek for the first time ‘gasp’ in astoniment at the sight of Shrek).
¨ Females are strong and are more equal to men than ever before.
¨ “Just because people treat you like a villain, or an ogre or just some loser, it doesn’t mean you are one. The thing that matters most is what you think of yourself, if theirs something you want or someone you really want to be then, then the only person standing in your way is you”. Just because something says you are something it doesn’t mean you are and you should to take to heart.
Q. What criteria have been used for selecting the content presented?
By looking at aspects of S.H.E.P, criteria such as parenthood have been presented as many people in the world are about to be parents and so the film reflects on how people sometimes cope with the idea of having a baby by looking at both the negatives and positives. By considering aspects within our society the film can reach other audiences as well as its main target audiences. Another example is when people are treated differently, for example like a ‘loser’ at school, you yourself start believing that you are, but you should not listen to them, the most important thing is what you think of yourself.
Media Audiences
Q. To whom is the text addressed? What is the target audience?
The text is addressed to kids whom are also the target audience of the film. The film may also be targeted at a family audience (secondary audience).
Q. What assumptions about the audience’s characteristics are implicit within the text?
Some members of the audience may have been left out of something and feel like Shrek, alone and misunderstood. Girls/females may look up to Princess Fiona and how strong and tough she is even though she is a female. Parents who may be having or have a baby may pick up on the films ideologies and values of parenthood.
Q. What assumptions about the audience are implicit in the texts scheduling or positioning?
The film was released on the May 18th 07 (late spring). During this time the films primary target audience, kids are in school however the film acts as a form of entertainment and a form of escapism (diversion). Also things such as school trips to the cinema can be arranged.
Q. In what conditions is the audience likely to receive the text? Does this impact upon the formal characteristics of the text?
The audience is most likely to receive the text in the cinema however due to the internet it can also be received via the net.
Q. What can you know or can you assume about the likely size and constituency of the audience?
Shrek is already established itself as a worldwide hit therefore the film is likely to be mass.
Q. What are the probable and possible audience readings of the text?
Audiences of different ages may read/interpret the film in different ways. Mostly all films send out ideologies and values towards the audience. The films primary audience, kids, may view the film as a form of entertainment and diversion. However the film alone may subliminally teach them messages and lessons such as don’t judge someone just because of their appearance.
As animation appeals to a family audience, adults also view the film and may read the film as both a form of entertainment and understand its ideologies and messages being sent out such as parenthood and how it can be tiring and stressful whilst also being fun and good for strengthening love between couples.
Q. How do you, as an audience member, read and evaluate the text? To what extent is your reading and evaluation influenced by your age, gender, background?
I personally view the film as a form of entertainment and escapism. Due to studying about films in media at ‘A levels’ and knowing things such as film/media language, S.H.E.P etc. allows me to easily identify these media aspects. Whilst my gender and background has no effect on how I read the film apart from just my own personal view.
Shrek Health Advert
Advert song lyrics
Donkey:
“Kid what’s up with you? Let’s get up and play, do something, stop slumping like a lump all day.
Get on up come on, get out the door; let’s shake that booty like never before
Let’s run, have fun, let’s jump the grove, get up and get that body out and make it move.
Let’s run, have fun, get up and be a player “
Shrek:
“Get up and play an hour a day”
Donkey:
“For cool play time ideas go online just don’t stay long”
- By using Shrek, Donkey and all there other friends from the Shrek movie series, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HSS) is tackling child obesity. Many adverts use famous celebrities and stars to appeal towards their audience as many people tend to follow their favourite stars whether its Jennifer Lopez’s perfume or Gillette used by David Beckham, celebrity endorsement does work. The HHS has used this in a bid to attempt to persuade children to stop lounging around all day and get up and play. The adverts ideology and value is that you should get out, play and get some exercise instead of lounging around at home on the TV or computer, engage in physical activities. Also by having Shrek in an advert it also shows that CGI is being used within adverts.
Shrek the Third: Cinematogprahy, Editing, Sound, mise-en-scene, S.H.E.P and other notes
Cinematography
- Darkness in the early shots illustrate that Prince Charming is evil.
- Long shot is used to show the setting e.g. a long high angle shot of the stage in which Shrek and Fiona are about to step onto.
- A long high angle shot of the a boat getting ready for sail illustrates the theme of adventure as Shrek, Donkey and Puss in Boots prepare to go on a journey and find Artie ‘King Arthur’.
- A long shot of the boat in the moonlit night and fog around creates suspense and mystery. Whilst the boat. The use of showing that it is night sets up the next scene in which Shrek has a nightmare.
- The use of Shrek’s dream about having a baby and the prospect of being a farther which is causing him chaos and stress illustrates the reality of having a baby.
- The shot of the teenagers in the bus passing by Shrek yell out an ‘yuk’ at the sight of Shrek. This illustrates that he is judge by others before they even get to know him.
- A low angle shot of a man in armour on a horse combined with dramatic music illustrates power, dominance, brave, hero etc.
- Close up shots of Shreks and Artie’s faces are used whilst their having a heart to heart. This is because it allows the audience to see how they are feeling whilst talking about how they both are similar to each other in that they both have not had a good farther like figure to aspire to and how both know what it is like to be alone or left out of society.
- When Shrek sees the Cyclops with a child, it makes him think about fartherhood and how wonderful it would be to have a child changing his early negative views.
- The medium shot of the fairy tale princesses ready to save Shrek illustrates the idea of 'girl power'. The use of the female characters posing like the Power Rangers ready for action demonstrates that they are ready to fight. At the same time it also shows that girls have power and this is reflecting society today and how women have more power in society.
Editing
- The ‘DreamWorks Animation SKG’ title is covered by clouds. Then a pan is used and using the institution title clouds, it blends into the first scene of the film as thunder clouds. This in turn gives the onlooker the feeling of suspense and danger which engages the audience from the beginning.
- A close up shot of the newspaper which blows into Prince Charmings face states that ‘King Royalty Sick, Shrek and Fiona fill in for King’. This sets the narrative for the film in that ‘Far Far Away’ needs a new King. Also good vs evil is shown as Prince Charming who wants to be king is shown to be evil also by saying ‘and this time no one will stand in my way’, whereas Shrek (and later we learn Artie) are the rightful king, not charming.
- After King Harold’s death, somber music combined with shots of empty streets and sad people at the funeral illustrate the sad loss of the king.
- A long shot of the kings castle and a man in a hood looking at the castle creates mystery. Also by the hooded character (prince charming) facing the kingdom it demonstrates that he’s coming to the kingdom. Also the use of a hood makes the character mysterious which in turn engages the audience to find out who it is
- Darkness combined with some low key lighting within the pub full of fairy tale villains is used to create danger and suspense.
- When Fiona is about to say what Shrek reaction to having a baby was the dragon lets out a roar of fear. Although the roar from the dragon is to signal a warning that danger, in the form of prince charming and his evil fairy tale friends are coming, the roar also represents Shrek’s reaction to being a farther. The director has used the roar to signal danger ahead and Shrek reaction to having a baby.
- A montage is used at the end of the film showing Shrek and Fiona enjoying parenthood.
- Lots of fast cuts are used when Prince Charming and the evil fairly tale creatures attack to create action, suspense, danger which in turn keeps the audience gripped.
- As the gingerbread man is threatened by Captain Hooks’ hook, a montage of his life is used from when he was created to school, graduation, love, marriage etc.
Sound
- Mysterious non-diegetic sound is used to set the tone and atmosphere.
When Prince Charming says ‘One day you’ll be sorry’, this shows that he is evil in that he will seek revenge, which is something associated with evil. - ‘An ogre as king, I don’t think that is such a good idea’. This illustrates that he lacks self confidence in himself as it is irregular to have an ugly creature such as an ogre running a kingdom (society).
- As Charming enters the small pub with all the evil fairy tale characters, contrapuntal music is used. This then suddenly stops when Charming says ‘to all my friends’, however the response to this is ‘we’re not your friends’. At the same time dramatic dark music is used to tension is created.
- ‘Happily ever after’ is what Prince Charming and the other evil fairly tale people want as in the normal fairly tales they were the ‘losers’.
- “People used to think that I was a monster, and for a long time I believed them, but after a while you learn to ignore the names people call you and just trust who you are”.
- “Once Shrek arrives in Far Far Away, he’s doomed”. This sets up the ending of the film where the princesses are trapped and Shrek (proppian hero) has to come and save them.
- “Ok girls, from here on out, were going to take care of business ourselves”. This demonstrates that the female characters are taking charge/control of the situation. This illustrates female power and equality with men.
Mise-en-scene
- Costume-
1. Puss in boots wears boots - Lighting-
1. Low key lighting is used in the pub filled with the villain fairly tale creatures.
2. Low key lighting is used when Shrek and Artie are having a heart to heart next to the fire whilst sitting outside in the night sky. - Acting-
1. Prince Charming riding a horse and setting of to save the princess - Make up-
- Props-
1. horse
2. stage
3. Puss In Boots sword - Setting-
1. theatre
2. Palace (Kingdom) Woods
S.H.E.P
- Society-
1. Appearance is important within society. E.g. you cannot have someone ugly running as prime minister and a similar chase for Shrek, you cannot have a ogre running a kingdom.
2. Having a baby can be a handful
3. Pregnancy is both joyful and stressful
4. Parenthood is tough
5. The medium shot involving two teenage girls gossiping and talk about boyfriends etc. “So then I was all like I’d rather get the black plague and lock myself in a iron maiden then go out with you”,” Eh Totally” relates to the stereotype of teenage girls in high schools and colleges at our current time and how they tend to gossip and talk about boys, dating, proms etc.
6. This shot is then followed by Shrek going up to a pair of ‘nerds’ who make a ‘nerdy’ joke, with Shrek saying “I know your busy not fitting in”. This demonstrates that smart people in school who tend to be called ‘nerds’ do not fit in within the other students at the school as they are ‘not cool’.
7. The medium shot of the crowd laughing at Arthur in the assembly illustrates how Arthur is embarrassed in front of the school and show he does not fit in as he is referred to as “the mayor of loserville”.
8. Having a baby can be stressful. When Fiona receives presents from the other fairy tale princesses, Snow White gives her one of the 7 dwarfs who is the babysitter because having a baby “You know what happens (having to look after a baby), your tired all the time, you’ll start letting yourself go, scratch marks, say goodbye to romance”. This sends out the message to the audience (adults) that having a baby is tiring, hard work and you have to sacrifice a lot as it takes away a lot of your life. At the same time a baby is also shown an s a way of keeping a marriage strong as “having a baby is only going to strengthen the love Shrek and Fiona have’.
9. Taking slang is associated with the youth of today. “If you think that this mad scene ain’t dope, I feel you dude, I mean I’m not trying to get up in your grill, or raise your roof or whatever…”. When Shrek tires to get onto Artie’s good side he communicates with him using slang as it is associated with teenagers. This is because Shrek feels this is the best way to get on Artie’s good side.
10. By Fiona and the princesses becoming the all action heroes in attempting to rescue Shrek, it reflects in our current society that females have more power than before and that they are equal to men. - Historical-
1. A Viking is used to sail Shrek, Donkey and PIB (Puss in Boots) to the place where King Arthur can be located. - Economical-
1. The third SHREK movie has shattered the opening weekend record for an animated film after raking in over $122 million (GBP61 million) at the U.S. box office. Shrek the Third has exceeded expert expectations by scoring the third-biggest opening of all time - easily taking over the U.S. number one spot from another second sequel, Spider-man 3. Analysts expected the film to gross between $80 million (GBP40 million) and $110 million (GBP55 million), but the film streaked past the record set by Shrek 2 to make animation history - Policitcal- 1. Females in society have more power/equality which is similar in Shrek as Fiona has power as she is a princess
Other Notes
- Institution- ‘DreamWorks Animation SKG’
Comedy is a central element to the films success e.g. - you really need to get some pyjamas’. - A wide variety of fairy tale creatures and characters are used throughout the whole film.
- The film tends to use intertextuality e.g. Donkey refers to Worcestershire sauce. By Donkey having said Worcestershire sauce “Worcestershire, like the sauce, mmm, it’s spicy” in an aspect the sauce brand have sublimely promoted and advertised their sauce within a summer blockbuster film. In addition the use of intertextuality adds to the comedy in the way it is embedded into the script.
- The use of Merlin and his magic spell illustrates fantasy.
- When Shrek (the hero) is locked up, it makes the audience feel that if the hero has been beaten which is going against Props theory of good vs evil and good always winning, who will save him or how will the film end. However, the film challenges the female’s power by making them the heroes as they attempt to rescue Shrek.
- There is cohesion within the film. At the beginning Prince Charming was on a show in which ended horribly and he was left embarrassed, however in the end Charming is repeating the play and this time he is getting his revenge on Shrek. However just like the first play Charming is left beaten and embarrassed
- Ideology/message- Artie: “Just because people treat you like a villain, or an ogre or just some loser, it doesn’t mean you are one. The thing that matters most is what you think of yourself, if theirs something you want or someone you really want to be then, then the only person standing in your way is you.” As this film is primarily aimed at children, it contains ideologies and values in which the children can learn. One message is that if you are someone who is always lonely and left out because your different to everyone else, you should not take heart to what people say about you or how they treat you and that if they say your something, “it doesn’t mean you are one” and the most important thing is what you think of yourself and “if you want to do something you want or someone you really want to be then only person that’s stopping you from doing it is “you”. In addition, earlier Charming made an dramatic and inspiring speech to persuade the villains to join him to live out their happily ever after, similarly Artie does the same but to change the villains minds/views that Charming injected into them and to save his friends.
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