1. Case Study on production of
the film Shrek

2. Why did we choose Shrek?
We will be talking about…
•Development and beginnings
•Directors role
•Storyboarding
•Concepts and design
•3D animation process
•Post Production

3. Directors Role
• Andrew Adamson – Animation
professional and Director
• Worked on visuals for various films
• Debut in directing in 2001 - Shrek
• Skills

4. •Shrek Written and illustrated By
William Steig In 1990.
•Rights to the book acquired by Steven
Spielberg in 1991 and planned to be
animated.
•DreamWorks Is founded and in 1995
becomes interested and takes the rights
and producer Jeffrey Katzenberg puts
Shrek in to production shortly after.
“When we started ‘Shrek,’ we wanted to make a fairy tale come to life- as if
you opened a storybook and stepped into that world,” – Andrew Adamson
(Director)

5. •
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”
•

6. Shrek: Deleted scene Video clip

7. Colour Scripts
Once they have the scenes they want
from the script/storyboards they do
things called „colour scripts‟ which
establish the colours and mood of the
film and continue with development of
concepts and environments.

9. Production Design by Mike Ploog for DreamWorks Animation’s Shrek (2001)

10. “Sculptures are the easiest way for me to
communicate the look of a character.
Sketches are great but they only give you
one angle. With a sculpture you can figure
out every angle.” – Tom Hester
Tom creates 3D models for
Hollywood films at
‘Hester Studios’ for over 25
years.
He was the lead character
designer for ‘Shrek’.

11. •36 separate environments in the entire film.
•
•28,186 trees with 3 billion leaves were used.
•Art Directors toured Hearst Castle and the
village of Stratford upon Avon for inspiration.

12. Translating Character Designs
into 3D
Stages before Animation can begin:
• 3D Modeling from Character designs
• Creating rigs for Characters
• Storyboard images scanned in

13. 1) Storyboard Images are scanned in to
create animatic.
2) Characters are created and
rigged digitally based on
storyboard images
3) Detail and texturing on characters and
background is built up
4) Final work is done and lighting added
to bring the scene to life

14. Animation Crew and
Equipment
The Animation crew for Shrek consisted
of:
•16 Animation Software Developers
•5 Directing Animators
•19 3D Animators
•2 Animation Production Supervisors
•1 Technical Director
Equipment used in Production:
•Animation uses Premo, developed by
DreamWorks
•HP Z Workstations
•Linux desktops and server CPU’s

15. How long it takes to
Animate
•Animation process usually takes around
1 ½ years to complete
As technology develops, Render Hours
increase dramatically:
•Shrek 1: 5 Million Render Hours
•Shrek 2: 10 Million Render Hours
•Shrek 3: 20 Million Render Hours
•Shrek 4: 46 Million Render Hours

16. Video showing Progress in Shrek films

17. The Success of Shrek
• $484.4 million
• Critical and commercial success
• Sequels and spin offs

18. Questions?

19. Tumblr Links
Daniel Gray:
http://www.tumblr.com/blog/dgrayunit3
Katie Borkin:
http://katieshrek.tumblr.com
Max Bode:
http://mxpower.tumblr.com
Sharni Melson:
http://sharnimelson.tumblr.com