title: Closely Watched Films: An Introduction to the Art of Narrative Film Technique
author:  Marilyn Fabe 
description: Why exactly was Citizen Kane such a revolutionary film? What are the hallmarks of Italian Neorealism? How do directors sew together a smooth scene from five or six different shots? Fabe answers these questions and more in this primer on the narrative structure of filmmaking, which analyzes 14 benchmark movies from D.W. Griffiths The Birth of a Nation to Mike Figgiss Timecode. (Since each film was selected to represent a significant cinematic movementexpressionism, postmodernism, French New Wave, etc.the book also doubles as a concise history of films most innovative storytellers.) Fabe teaches film theory at the University of California, Berkeley, and her chapters maintain the conversational feel of lecture notes: each one gives some background on and a plot synopsis of the film discussed then provides a close analysis of a particular sequence. Antonio Riccis decision to steal in De Sicas The Bicycle Thief, for example, is broken down to show how moral conflict can be encapsulated in a split second. Fabes analysis proves most engaging when it shows how each cinematic element works to add subtext and depth to story and character. Her explication of Hitchcocks camera work in Notorious, for example, shows how his use of space in a frame could evoke either freedom or claustrophobia. Fabes book is best suited for the classroom, but even general readers may enjoy her insights, which allow one to read a chapter, pop in the corresponding DVD and experience the satisfaction of knowing how a classic film was put together. 74 b/w photos.<br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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  Fabe, Closely Watched Films 3/31/04 4:40 PM Page i CLOSELY WATCHED FILMS
  
  Fabe, Closely Watched Films 3/31/04 4:40 PM Page ii
  
  Fabe, Closely Watched Films 3/31/04 4:40 PM Page iii **Closely Watched Films**
  
  An Introduction to the Art
  
  of Narrative Film Technique
  
   **Marilyn Fabe**
  
   **UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS** Berkeley Los Angeles London
  
  Fabe, Closely Watched Films 3/31/04 4:40 PM Page iv University of California
  Press
  
  Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
  
  University of California Press, Ltd.
  
  London, England
  
  Portions of chapters 3, 8, and 9 have been previously published in a series of
  Film Study Extract Booklets, Macmillan Films Inc., Mount Vernon, N.Y., 1975.
  
  © 2004 by the Regents of the University of California Library of Congress
  Cataloging-in-Publication Data Fabe, Marilyn.
  
  Closely watched films : an introduction to the art of narrative film technique
  / Marilyn Fabe.
  
  p.
  
  cm.
  
  Includes bibliographical references and index.
  
  isbn 0-520-2386