“The Language of Hollywood”

From the 4th of February to the 11th of March 2013, I followed a course called the “Language of Hollywood: Storytelling, Sound and Color” with the University of Wesleyan. I found the course interesting. The last videos on colors where the once I preferred.




Here, you won't find my notes on the course as I am not supposed to share them outside the Coursera platform. But, you will find material that has been circulating amount some students. The learning is not limited to the course, you can interact with others and discover interesting shares.

A lot of people in the group were wishing for a World Cinema Course, so we started exchanging myriads of links from the pieces of movies we favored. Here is how in particular, the group discussions with the peers on Facebook made me discovered new movies and documentaries which had real value.

Professor Scott Higgins at the University of Wesleyan:



I, myself shared a few links with my peers which don't have much to do with Hollywood I have to say!

Here is a sample :

L’Artiste, trailer, 2011. After studying the silent area of Hollywood cinema, I had to share this link. It is a silent French romantic comedy drama by Michel Hazanavicius with Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo. It won 7 Bafta's, 5 academy awards, six Cesars, 3 golden globes amount other prices. 

L’arrivée d’un train en garde de la Ciotat, Les freres Lumieres,1885. It is said that people started screaming and hiding under their seats when the movie was first presented to the audience who was only just discovering the magic of animation. 

Metropolis, 1927, Fritz lang, German Expressionist Movie. So innovative that I find it fascinating. However, it does raise some ethical issues especially due to the context and what happened in the world a few years before. Fritz Lang had the same worries retrospectively and started hating his movie.

Paperman, 2012, Balck and White Animated Movie, Oscar for best short animated

The movie is very sweet. My kids enjoyed watching it with me.

Via facebook, Belinda Beasley created a little survey: what cinema course would we like to see offered On Coursera. A course on World Cinema got the first place, followed by black movies and silent movies. I voted for World Cinema and also Colors in movies after the 1960′s.

Here are a few links about color that found on the Facebook page :

Make up in the silent movie area:

If you are interested in make-up in silent movie, you might want to go and check this page on Jonathan Waldorf's blog:



History of colors in cinema from 1890 to 1950:

World’s first color moving pictures discovered

And then a few more links:

The story of Film, an Odyssey Trailer:

A book written by our professor Higgins:

And I need to add a link to My Fair Lady with Professor Higgins:

My overall grade for this class: 100/100

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