Astérix aux jeux olympiques Education Resource

Astérix aux jeux olympiques
Frédéric Forestier, 116 min, France, 2008
Education Resource
CONTENTS
CONTENTS
3
ASTERIX AUX JEUX OLYMPIQUES
4
Explorez les bandes dessinées ....................................... 4
Centres de la bande dessinée ......................................... 4
Les aventures de Tin Tin ................................................. 4
Les Schtroumpfs ............................................................. 5
Astérix ............................................................................. 5
Astérix aux jeux olympiques (2008) ................................. 6
Written by Susan Bye ACMI Education
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ASTERIX AUX JEUX OLYMPIQUES
Explorez les bandes dessinées
Find out more about the bande dessinée and then answer these questions. (The Wikipedia
entry is quite helpful http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-Belgian_comics )
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What is a bande dessinée?
Create a timeline detailing the significant moments in the history of the bande
dessinée.
Give some examples of bandes dessinées and provide:
o series title
o author/s
o date range
o country of origin (i.e. Belgium, France or Switzerland).
Choose a bande dessinée that interests you and explain what is distinctive about
it.
Describe the main characters. Explain what they look like, their personalities and
their role in the story.
Describe the style of writing and the illustrations.
Centres de la bande dessinée
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Find out about the Comic Arts Museums in France
(english.citebd.org/spip.php?article9) and the Brussels Comic Book Centre in
Belgium (www.comicscenter.net/en/home ).
Where are they situated?
What do they specialise in?
Les aventures de Tin Tin
Tin Tin is one of the earliest and most well-known bande dessinée characters. The bande
dessinée series featuring Tin Tin was written and drawn by the Belgian artist Hergé.
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What is Hergé’s real name?
When was Tin Tin created?
What is the name of Tin Tin’s dog? (Please provide both his French and English
names?
Hergé is famous for a style of drawing called ligne claire. What is special about this
drawing style? You can explore the Tin Tin website if you want to get a better idea of
Hergé’s style.
Tin Tin has been adapted for television as a traditional 2D animation and is also the
subject of a motion capture computer-generated animation for cinema.
o You might like to sample each of these adaptations by watching these short
videos:
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o
TV show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb-9TIr31i0;
Film
http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2415828505/
Compare the two animation styles, and describe what you like and dislike
about each version. Give reasons.
Les Schtroumpfs
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What are these crazy characters called in English?
What is special about them?
o What do they look like?
o Where do they live?
o How do they talk?
Who created them and where is he from?
Astérix
Récherchez
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To find out more about Astérix, visit this website: www.france.fr/en/literature-andfrench-language/asterix-most-famous-gaul-world
o Why do you think information about Astérix can be found on the official French
website? What does this tell you about Astérix and French culture?
Find out about the artists who created the Astérix bande dessinée.
o Which member of this famous team wrote the stories and who drew the
pictures?
What period in French and Belgian history does the Astérix bande dessinée refer to?
Where was Gaul located?
o Download a map of twenty-first century Europe and draw the border of Gaul
over the top in a contrasting colour.
Who was Vercingetorix? Why is he an important figure in French history?
Décrivez les caractères
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Describe the main characters: Astérix and Obélix.
o What do they look like?
o How are they dressed?
o How do they behave?
Découvrez plus
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What was the name of the magazine in which these characters first appeared?
What is the main idea behind the Astérix stories?
What are some of the techniques and jokes used to appeal specifically Frenchspeaking readers in the stories?
List at least three characters (other than Astérix and Obélix) who appear in the Astérix
bandes dessinées and, where relevant, the English-version of their names.
Name three Astérix bandes dessinées. Please provide the French and the English
titles.
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Astérix is a very popular character in France (and around the world). Because of this,
he and Obélix are often used to market products. See how many examples of this
you can find. (Hint: Nestlé, Pasquier, Belin and McDonalds have all used these
characters to sell their products.)
Astérix aux jeux olympiques (2008)
This live action film is the third of a series of four live action films starring Gerard Depardieu
as Obélix. In this film, Astérix is played by Clovis Cornillac. You can watch the official trailer
here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4IwYe5N1o0 As of 2015, this film is still the most
expensive French film ever made.
People (especially French people) love Astérix so the filmmakers had a big responsibility to
stay true to the original bandes dessinées. At the same time they have to make a lot of
changes to make a comic book into a 120 minute feature film.
Lisez Astérix aux jeux olympiques
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Borrow Asterix at the Olympic Games from your local library and compare the comic
book with the film.
o What familiar and distinctive features of the original remain in the film version?
o What new elements have been included?
Explorez le film
The opening of Astérix aux jeux olympiques refers to the very first Astérix book (Astérix le
gaulois/ Asterix the Gaul) in which the readers find out about Astérix’s village and learn that it
is the only last place in Gaul to have resisted the Romans. You can find the image from the
opening page of this first book here: http://www.acs.psu.edu/drussell/Asterix/images/intromap.jpg. This image is accompanied by a voiceover, as we are introduced to the story that is
about to take place.
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How effective did you find the opening of the film?
What important information did it communicate?
How well did it prepare you for the kind of story that was going to be told?
Two key ideas contributed to the planning of the film: to reproduce the comic book humour in
the film and broaden the appeal of the film beyond France and Belgium to the rest of Europe.
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What are some of the techniques used to give the film the flavor of a comic book? In
your answer, think about:
o characterisation
o costume
o setting and set design
o special effects
o gestures
o dialogue
o colour
o lighting
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The special effects in Astérix aux jeux olympiques are very comical and draw on
some of the techniques we recognise from cartoons.
o List these traditional animation techniques and explain when and how they
were used.
Find out more about the cast.
o Why do you think a number of sports stars were included?
o Teams from which countries were included in the Olympics in the film?
o The character Humungus is played by a well-known Australian sports star.
Find out more about him and his film career.
Créez
Choisissez un projet de cette liste.
1. You have a product to sell. What is it? How would you use characters and ideas from
the Astérix bandes dessinées to sell your product?
2. You are designing a new ride for Le Parc Astérix. Which album (book) are you going
to use for inspiration? What kind of ride does it inspire you to create? What age group
are you going to appeal to? Which characters are you going to use?
3. You are producing the next live action Astérix film. Which story are you going to use
for inspiration? What changes do you need to make to the original storyline? Which
jokes can you keep and which ones won’t work so well for a cinema audience? How
will you set the scene for viewers who don’t know the books? Will you need to add
more action or some romance?
4. Choose a famous event or moment from history and plan an Astérix story. Create the
introductory drawings and dialogue in the panel below. See if you can write the
dialogue in French.
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