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| All hail the king (of TV drama) |
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| Michelle and Vince directed the episodes I have taken my scenes from |
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| Michael Slovis on set with Bryan Cranston |
The "Breaking Bad style" is very unique to the show, and it's easily recognisable. It doesn't look like anything thing else on TV, and here are the reasons why:
The Handheld Look
Breaking Bad was shot almost entirely handheld. The camera was only every static, or on a dolly, or crane, if the story asked for it. Camera movement was motivated by the tense storylines. The handheld look put the audience into the show. We were always very close to the action, with the camera getting in the actors faces. This, mixed in with the directors allowing the actors to take the scene in the direction they saw fit, made the show feel very real and intense.
The show also tended to use a two camera setup, which allowed them to shoot multiple angles at once. This again helped the actors because they could go off script and develop the scene themselves without having to worry about staying in frame. There was always a least one camera on them.
Unusual Places
Breaking Bad loved placing the camera in unusual places. Sometimes they would put it under a surface or on the end of the gun. It was always somewhere that looked odd, somewhere you wouldn't think you would be able to place a camera. This is probably one of the most memorable trademarks of the show.
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| Placing the camera inside a barrel |
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| Or on the end of a shovel |
Breaking Bad loved to use the characters points of view to help tell the story. They would show the character reacting to something and then cut to what they're seeing, a technique used a lot in film and TV. Somehow Breaking Bad did it differently. They used the technique very effectively to tell a story with the camera. Their version of a POV shot was usually from an angle that nobody could actually see something from, and this relates back to their tendency to put the camera in unusual places.
Extreme Long Shots/Wide Shots
Breaking Bad didn't care about sticking to the conventions. On many occasions they would use a wide shot where everyone else would use a close-up. They would tease the audience by taking them away from the action, but they did it so well that you would still know what was going on. And sometimes they'd take you away for a reason, because they wanted to hide something from you.
They'd also use wide shots and long shots to help establish the location of a scene. If you'd found an incredible location, like many of the ones in Breaking Bad, you'd want to show it off by taking the camera as far away as you possibly can.
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| In this wide shot from season 3, we were taken away from a murder taking place, yet because of sound, we knew it was happening. |
Sometimes they'd stick the camera on a big crane, or take it up a scissor lift, to put you above the action. If they did it, it was either to help you see the distance between characters; to show you things you couldn't see if you were on the ground; to show you how small a space is; or to make the characters on screen look small and powerless.
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| Use of bird's eye view in Breaking Bad |
When watching Breaking Bad, we often don't see the faces of the main characters. Vince Gilligan spoke about how everyone knows who they are and so we don't really need to see their faces. The show enjoyed putting characters in a silhouette or only slightly lighting characters faces. They tried to focus more on the emotion of the scene, not the emotion of the characters face. If they could tell a great story in a pitch-black room, they would.
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| In this scene, Walt's face is almost not lit at all because they wanted you to focus on what he was doing |
Breaking Bad uses a lot of natural sound. This adds to the very 'real' feel that the show has. It helps to build the world that these characters exist in. This therefore helps to pull the viewers into the world as well.
Breaking Bad uses music very well to build onto very tense and important scenes. The music used throughout the show's run perfectly complimented the bleakness the show posed. In a lot of cases they also complement the show's dark sense of humour. One of my favourite songs used in Breaking Bad is Out of Time Man by Mick Harvey. The song was used at the end of the pilot episode and it perfectly encapsulated the situation Walt was in. Music plays an important part in making Breaking Bad an incredible show.
Lighting/Colour
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| How the colour schemes of the characters changed throughout the run of the show |
Colour was often used to show a change in time, or location. For example, in season 3 some scenes take place in Mexico. Michael chose to use a completely different palette of colour to show this change in location. Or during the second season, they used a lot of black and white during scenes that were supposed to show future events, events which that season was building up too.
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| In season two black and white was used to show future events. However, the famous "teddy bear" was kept in colour to highlight its significance. |
In terms of lighting, the show always tried to be creative. They kept it as practical looking as possible whilst still keeping it unique. When building, or dressing sets, they would try and incorporate as much of the lighting set up as they could into the set. This allowed them to film where they saw fit, without having to worry too much about how their position affected the lighting. When shooting exteriors during the day, they tried to use the natural sunlight as much as possible, using only reflectors to help light the actors. Often the lighting was in contrast to the colour, especially in some interior scenes like the one below.
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| An example from season 4 of a contrasting lighting set up. |
And that's it! That's the "Breaking Bad style".
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