National Film Vault

FILM NOTES

DreamWorks Animation released Shrek in May 2001, marking a turning point for computer-generated feature filmmaking outside of Pixar. Directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, the film earned the inaugural Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and demonstrated that irreverent, layered storytelling could find enormous audiences. Its visual ambition and satirical approach to fairy tale convention reshaped the animation landscape for the decade that followed.

This cell, titled Snow White and Dwarves, captures Snow White alongside the Seven Dwarfs during the fairy tale creatures sequence, likely drawn from the swamp gathering or Lord Farquaad interrogation passages. The strip presents three consecutive frames of the same grouping, each showing subtle shifts in exposure across adjacent frames, offering a rare look at how this ensemble moment was constructed on 35mm.