Têtes à claques
Encyclopedia
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. As of March 2011, there are 184 videos. The most popular of these include Le pilote, Le Willi Waller, and Halloween.
The creator, Michel Beaudet, has expressed surprise at the popularity of his site, saying it has reached an audience he never anticipated.
As of 2010, Mondo Mini Shows
Mondo Mini Shows
Mondo Mini Shows is an American company that produces animation targeted at teens and young adults. Mondo Mini Shows are distributed as an ad-supported, virtual animation channel via the Internet, podcasts and mobile...
has picked up the English version of Têtes à claques and broadcasting it under the name TAC.
Description
The skits feature characters sculpted from modelling clayModelling clay
You can use modelling clay to create items with it. The material compositions and production processes vary considerably. -Ceramic clay:...
that are fairly simplistic. Michel Beaudet creates the figures himself, by superimposing his own moving eyes, mouth, and sometimes nose on their faces with a computer. In addition, Beaudet has a set of fake, grotesque teeth, which he puts in while his face is being filmed. The phrase tête à claques translates loosely as "a face so ugly, you want to slap it."
The site has also become very popular in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, not only because of the intentional humour and wit, but also because of a stereotypical Quebec French
Quebec French
Quebec French , or Québécois French, is the predominant variety of the French language in Canada, in its formal and informal registers. Quebec French is used in everyday communication, as well as in education, the media, and government....
pronunciation. This differs greatly from pronunciations used in France, and thus provides its own humour, in addition to the frequent anglicisms (English words or expressions inserted into speech).
The site features a page for mobile phones that presents snippets of episodes.
As of August 2008, Têtes à claques started producing videos in English, voiced by Bruce Dinsmore
Bruce Dinsmore
-Biography:He voices Binky Barnes and David Read in Arthur, Tubby Tompkins in The Little Lulu Show, Horace in Wimzie's House and Jervis Coltrane and Mr. Hutchins in What's With Andy? ....
.
History
Beaudet has said that "Têtes à claques was an accident." He was originally trying to make a series using stop motion animation, but quickly discovered that "90% of the time it takes to animate is spent moving the eyes and mouth." He tried doing it the regular way, but because he was "too lazy", he decided to film his own face and superimpose his eyes and mouth on the figurineFigurine
A figurine is a statuette that represents a human, deity or animal. Figurines may be realistic or iconic, depending on the skill and intention of the creator. The earliest were made of stone or clay...
s.
Every day, Beaudet receives new offers from telephone companies and television stations. Incidentally, the first offer was from a French, not Canadian company. The popularity has surged to the point that Beaudet has employed two other people, Simon Parizeau and Hugo Caron, to help with the production at his home in Boucherville. Work is underway to convert Têtes à claques to formats viewable on cell phones and iPod
IPod
iPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...
s. Beaudet has recently admitted that making English versions of the comedy shorts is in his "game plan". Currently, Vertigo Candy http://vertigocandy.com/VertigoCandy is using Beaudet's animation and voice talent as advertising on its front page.
On November 12, 2006, the creator appeared on the Quebec television show Tout le monde en parle
Tout le monde en parle (Quebec)
Tout le monde en parle is a Quebec talk show hosted and co-produced by Guy A. Lepage, broadcast on Radio-Canada since 2004. It has been adapted from the French show of the same name, created and hosted by Thierry Ardisson.- Concept :...
(Everyone's Talking About It) hosted by Guy A. Lepage
Guy A. Lepage
Guy A. Lepage is a Canadian comedian turned producer.-Career:Lepage was one of the five founding members of the Quebec comedy group Rock et Belles Oreilles , and remained with the group from 1981 to 1995.Lepage became a media mogul and...
. He noted many employers have blocked access to the site because it has become so popular that workers were watching it during the day. Numerous schools across Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
have blocked access to the site, mostly for its heavy use of mature language and swearing.
On February 1, 2007, Têtes à claques announced a partnership with Bell Canada
Bell Canada
Bell Canada is a major Canadian telecommunications company. Including its subsidiaries such as Bell Aliant, Northwestel, Télébec, and NorthernTel, it is the incumbent local exchange carrier for telephone and DSL Internet services in most of Canada east of Manitoba and in the northern territories,...
to provide videos and other media on Bell Mobility
Bell Mobility
Bell Mobility is a CDMA and HSPA+ based wireless network and the division of Bell Canada which sells wireless services in Canada...
, Sympatico
Bell Sympatico
Bell Internet, originally and frequently called Sympatico, is the residential Internet service provider division of Bell Canada. It was affiliated with MSN. As of June 2009, Bell Internet had over 2 million subscribers in Ontario and Quebec and was the largest ISP in Canada.- History :Sympatico was...
and Bell TV services.
In 2007 Têtes à claques started pre-sales of its Region 1 DVDs. The DVD includes the first 45 clips, the history of Têtes à claques, character bios, and English, Quebec French and international French subtitles.
On August 14, 2008, the beta version of the new bilingual "Têtes à claques" website (http://www.tac.tv) was launched. The English version of most dialogues is interpreted by Canadian actor Bruce Dinsmore
Bruce Dinsmore
-Biography:He voices Binky Barnes and David Read in Arthur, Tubby Tompkins in The Little Lulu Show, Horace in Wimzie's House and Jervis Coltrane and Mr. Hutchins in What's With Andy? ....
. The creator Michel Beaudet still performs the voices of some of the main characters (the pilot and Raoul.)