National Film Vault

FILM NOTES

DreamWorks Animation released Shrek in May 2001, marking a turning point for computer-animated features and challenging Disney's long dominance of the family film market. Directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, the film became a cultural landmark, winning the inaugural Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and launching one of animation's most successful franchises.

This cell captures Shrek in a sustained close-up, his face rendered in cool blue light against a dark background. The three-frame sequence preserves a single dramatic moment, the muted palette and tight framing conveying quiet tension rather than the film's more familiar comedic register. It offers an intimate look at the character at the center of DreamWorks' defining achievement.