"I Feel Good" Animation Test

The now infamous close-up of the preliminary Shrek

In the year 1996, an animation test for Shrek was completed, which displayed a key scene intended to showcase Shrek's character. It utilized motion-capture technology, and featured a dark aesthetic. All of the work had initially been done at DreamWorks' animation campus in Glendale, California.

After a year of completion, the test was screened the following year. Then-head of DreamWorks Animation Jeffery Katzenberg wasn't impressed, and was quoted saying, "It looked terrible, it didn't work, it wasn't funny, and we didn't like it." Around 20 employees were let go from the project, leaving only a handful people to rework the film at Pacific Data Images. However, on December 18, 1997, Chris Farley passed away, causing this version of the film to be reworked into the 2001 film.

Plot

Shrek is seen in a preliminary version of Duloc at night, lip-syncing to "I Got You (I Feel Good)" by James Brown. He comes across a Mugger who stops him after jumping down by a bungee rope in an attempt to rob him. Shrek proceeds to grab him by the throat and stretches the Mugger on his rope. Going close to his face, he exclaims, "Ah! Bite me!" before letting him go, launching him into the night sky as he screams. Afterwards, Shrek continues lip-syncing and dancing.

Known Crew

• Rob Letterman & J.J. Abrams - Directors
• Barry E. Jackson - Production Designer
• Brian Drucker - Set Builder
• Loren Soman - Visual Effects
• Anders J.L. Beer - Character Animator
• Mike Ploog - Character Designer (Shrek)

Production

Around 1994, several artists were approached to work on a feature length adaptation of William Steig's picture book, Shrek! It was pitched to be a computer-animated film, with a dark and edgy tone topped with a low budget. This provided a challenge for the designers, as there weren't any fully CG-I animated films at that point (with Pixar's Toy Story just one year away from premiering).

Well-known designer, Barry E. Jackson, was hired as the film's production designer. Working with acclaimed comic book artist Mike Ploog, the two refined what would become the first approved design of Shrek himself. Later, Jackson and several artists designed various set pieces using Photoshop. Despite approval for the artwork, DreamWorks producers wanted an animation test to see if the crew understood how to work with 3-D. Jackson would then conceive the idea of Shrek walking down a medieval alley and encountering a mugger. This would help give insight on who Shrek was as a character, and how strong he was against opposing forces. Jackson then designed various shots and angles with the alley- along with castles and other buildings to bring extra life to the dark atmosphere. This was to help create suspense, leading into the encounter with the mugger.

As the test was getting closer to being started, Chris Farley had signed on to voice Shrek. With the news handed to the crew, they knew the portrayal would be more "broad and comical," and needed to reflect that in their animation test. It would also serve inspiration for the movements that would be done through a combination of animation techniques. For the body movements of Shrek, motion capture was used for his walking and dancing. This would be fused with facial movements achieved through various sculptures that would be morphed in the computer. Concern over the film's visual style arose during this time, with many believing it to be "too dark" and unappealing for a ninety minute film.

Unfortunately, these concerns would be brought up when the test was in its finishing stages. As a result, the crew voted to complete the test as initially intended- although it would lead to the majority of the team, including Jackson, to be let go of the project. Jackson himself would also not be involved with the final look of the test, and later wished that he stayed to help refine the visuals. Once the test was screened, the decision was made to go for a different direction entirely. Afterwards, a more romantic story that would appeal to a wider audience was favored, and would begin production at Pacific Data Images in 1998.

Availability

On November 23rd, 2023, the full, 38 second long test was uploaded onto YouTube by the test's production designer, Barry Jackson (The Zoom Art Studio on YouTube). Although it was briefly put on private due to copyright concerns, and only reuploaded after consulting with his lawyer. Prior to the official upload, it was the subject of debate and interest for several years. Beginning in April of 2017, YouTuber "unclesporkums" uploaded the storyboard version of the animation test. He later re-uploaded it in September of 2017 after finding more storyboards. Since voices were absent from the original upload, he voiced over the missing lines by himself- complete with an impression of Chris Farley's voice. The upload is roughly 2 minutes and 23 seconds long, and can be viewed on YouTube.

On July 30th, 2022, LMW user DingleManBoy (aka DoofusManBoy on YouTube) found a sped-up clip of the clip in HD quality on a demo reel of an animator who worked on the test. It was uploaded to YouTube and slowed down/zoomed so that every frame was visible (31 frames total). It is partially covered by clips of the indie short, "Los Gringos," and has no audio. A month later, YouTube user TheSecretLifeOfAliens uploaded two collections of clips of the test. The first featured Shrek's now infamous close-up shot, and him dancing in the city. Another featured hijinks with Shrek and the Mugger, without the original audio. The footage came from demo reels by another DreamWorks animator. A video containing early models for Shrek and the Mugger was also found on the Hester Studios website. These could be the ones used for the head and mouth movements in the final test.

A day after the test was publicly shown, VFX supervisor Jonathan Gibbs posted about the video on Twitter. Along with admitted to the PDI crew being prohibited from seeing the test, he claimed that there was more to the test than what was shown by Jackson. He mentioned that it was part of a 2-3 minute test, which was the only fully realized animation done for this original version of Shrek. However, a recent interview with Jackson seems to have debunked the claim, as the designer didn't mention that the test shown was part of a larger package.

Trivia

• Despite the plan to incorporate model sets for motion-captured characters, the test has 3-D backgrounds with the mo-cap animation.