Conner Japikse - Shrek 2 Retold Behind The Scenes

Shrek 2 Retold Behind the Scenes

The Story of Shrek 2 Retold

Preface

The story of Shrek Retold is a volume within itself, to get a picture of how it went check out the How I Made Shrek Retold, Shrek Retold Retold, and Shrekfest 2018 videos

Mama Luigi and - what was the other retold??

When Shrek Retold hit the internet, it opened up the concept of feature-length retellings to a wider audience. Previously the only feature length retellings were Raiders (an 8-year commitment by a group of only four kids) and Our Robocop Retelling (small audience/rated R/on) and two Star Wars retellings (officially ran by star wars). Shrek Retold combined internet pop culture (instead of fringe devoted groups not really “”online””).

After Shrek Retold was released, Grant Duffrin (project manager and director) had zero interest in a sequel (insert quote from April Fools video). (ask for comments about people mocking him just for even asking to join). He saw it as a sign that people wanted more mass-collaborative video projects, but felt Shrek wasn’t the direction to go. Grant started pursuing Sonic Rebuilt - a lower stress OVA rework - as a secret project.

Phase 1

March 8th 2019 - September 16th, 2019

After the release of Shrek Retold, the 3GI Patreon patron community grew exponentially. The Discord channels that were exclusive to Patrons began having special event nights in late 2018, including YouTube watch parties and movie nights. Frequently the movie nights would run late and etc etc, one night in early 2019 (get the month) after a different movie was shown, 3GI patron Chatterbox and Grant Duffrin watched Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and had a riot of a time (get quote from Chatterbox describing the night watching Austin Powers). As the concept of a feature-length retelling was fresh in the minds of the patrons, and Grants passion invigorated them, Chatterbox had the idea to retell the Austin Powers film (quote Chatter). Chatter began the process and had set up a discord server by March 8th, 2019. Struggling to find it's footing, and running low on steam, Chatter was struggling (ask about how Austin Powers went before it was changed to Shrek 2). When April 1st rolled around, Grant released a prank video entitled “Shrek 2 Retold” (later retitled How I Made SHrek Retold) on YouTube, which was actually him sitting in a chair and discussing in detail, the process of making Shrek Retold. (Quote when he says “if anyone else wants to do Shrek 2 Retold than go ahead”) naturally this call to action spoke fairly directly to Chatterbox. As he was close with Grant and (did he help with shrek retold?) was in the process of making a feature length retold. Since Austin Powers was in the early stages, Chatterbox decided to abandon Austin Powers and shift gears towards Shrek 2. Along with this process, after realizing the faults of Austin Powers, Chatter (ask why he incited more people on board/if Jake was on Austin Powers) decided to recruit the help of other 3GI Patrons, beginning with Jake the Snake and Owen Orange. (Ask Jake and Owen for quotes about why they joined).

Despite their lack of experience managing large groups, or groups of any size for that matter, Their fresh eyes and enthusiasm for the potential a sequel to Shrek Retold could have kept them going. They set up a public Discord server and Twitter account for Shrek Retold and hastily started passing out large scenes and contacting internet creators they looked up to.

Application process/bowie & ?? & garf

Meanwhile Grant was fast at work on Sonic Rebuilt. Keeping the project widely under wraps, he utilized the network he built during Shrek Retold to keep most of Sonic Rebuilt “in-house” only discussing it openly with Patrons and those on board the project (look on 3GI twitter for first mention of Sonic Rebuilt).

Enter Garfield and the editing fights (What was Garfields involvement - was it initially with Shrek or Sonic?)

Enter Conner (when did I become patron) and re-editing and reorganizing (when did I officially take voer vs just join)

Explain my past with Ratboy, etc.

Shrekfest trailer, talking with Grant and asking for advice in restructuring (Shrekfest 2019 - August 31st, 2019)

The big September post-shrekfest meeting.

Phase 2

September 17th 2019-June 8th 2021

Grant and Conner begin massively restructuring Shrek 2 Retold
Private discord, collaborator-only, no “turning down” applications, whipping things into shape, taking back scenes that were hastily passed out, begin brainstorming ideas for crucial scenes.

As both Sonic Rebuilt and Shrek 2 Retold gained attention, lots of people just started submitting parts without having signed up or contacting anyone at 3GI, which was odd.

Sonic Rebuilt release - Mar 6, 2020

Focus became Shrek 2 Retold after that. Things really got going until the pandemic hit, and major changes were happening across the board. Grant and I had just started contacting people now that Sonic Rebuilt was out of the way when pandemmy happened.

In many ways it was a good and bad thing, as touring musicians became available, but freelance artists were out of jobs. Monthly emails, hard times, Shrekfest Online, a lot of waiting.

After Shrekfest 2020, the holiday season hit, more pandemmy issues, then AVGN, then picking things up once again. Tshirts, etc

Phase 3

June 09, 2021 - Present

The new grindstone, as Conner and Grant were in full swing with weekly emails at this point, talks shifted to bringing Garfield into the mix to help administrate and pick up slack.

Cracking down on big scenes like Fairy Godmother, deadline with waitlist, Accidentally in Love, Joan Rivers, and the score musicians. It became a “three-man act” with weekly emails, weekly meetings, and weekly deadlines.

Wrapping up:

And post production?? - wait to write this stuff

Holiday season 2021, and the opening/closing/after-credits scenes

DVD, etc.

Behind the Scenes Gallery