Entertainment
10 Shots That Prove 'Breaking Bad' Will Be Taught in Film Classes For Years to Come
I have watched 59 episodes of Breaking Bad in the last six days. I am bleary-eyed and emotionally compromised and much more thoroughly aware of my tolerance for coffee than I was a week ago.
In two episodes I will be caught up, and then, tonight, I will watch the series finale and cry and nurse my ravaged heart with the rest of the world. Until then, it's time to go nostalgic.
Breaking Bad is a masterpiece of a show in many ways. The story-telling, the journey of character, the structural pacing. But one thing that made my former-cinema-major heart go BOOM? The cinematography.
New York Magazine's Matt Zoller Seitz once called Breaking Bad "the most visually intelligent drama on TV." We are inclined to agree. So, in celebration of tonight's finale — and in memory of what came before — we gathered a few of our favorite shots from the series' past, a sort of reminder as to why this is the kind of show (and Michael Slovis the kind of cinematographer) that will be taught in cinema & television classes for decades to come. This is in no way a comprehensive list — that would take much longer — but simply some that stood out to us as we were going through our massive collection of Breaking Bad screenshots.
(Warning: May contain a visual spoiler or two)
Images: AMC
I have watched 59 episodes of Breaking Bad in the last six days. I am bleary-eyed and emotionally compromised and much more thoroughly aware of my tolerance for coffee than I was a week ago.
In two episodes I will be caught up, and then, tonight, I will watch the series finale and cry and nurse my ravaged heart with the rest of the world. Until then, it's time to go nostalgic.
Breaking Bad is a masterpiece of a show in many ways. The story-telling, the journey of character, the structural pacing. But one thing that made my former-cinema-major heart go BOOM? The cinematography.
New York Magazine's Matt Zoller Seitz once called Breaking Bad "the most visually intelligent drama on TV." We are inclined to agree. So, in celebration of tonight's finale — and in memory of what came before — we gathered a few of our favorite shots from the series' past, a sort of reminder as to why this is the kind of show (and Michael Slovis the kind of cinematographer) that will be taught in cinema & television classes for decades to come. This is in no way a comprehensive list — that would take much longer — but simply some that stood out to us as we were going through our massive collection of Breaking Bad screenshots.
(Warning: May contain a visual spoiler or two)
Images: AMC
One of the first shots of the entire series, the flight of these pants brought up a lot of questions — questions that would soon begin to be answered by the barreling-in of a battered-up RV.
Skyler White is a battleground of a character. In many ways serving as the compromised moral compass in contrast to Walter White's dwindling humanity, Skyler as a character alternates between internalizing her anguish and letting it all hang out. This shot, an Ophelia-eque sequence that showed a more literal take on her emotional drowning, remains one of the most memorable moments of the series, and certainly one of the most memorable shots.
It didn't take Walt very long into the series to realize the megalomaniacal joys of feeling like a supervillain. This shot set up many, many more explosion walk-aways to come.
This one's just pure Heisenberg.
One of the defining aspects of the series has been the relationship between Walt and Jesse. This shot is not only beautifully composed, but it shows one small very complicated, messed-up moment in a very messed-up partnership.
New York Magazine's Seitz called this is shot of Jesse's first experience with heroin his favorite shot of the entire series, calling back to the cinematic masters who'd used this crane technique before:
"Spike Lee and Martin Scorsese are masters of this sort of shot, and they learned the trick from an older master, Vincente Minnelli, who conveyed romantic delirium at a ball in Madam Bovary by placing his lead couple on a platform that whooshed them around the dance floor faster and more wildly than any of the extras. "
One of a few memorable speed-through montages, this shot is one of hundreds that show the show's relationship to color, shot composition, and the vastness of the New Mexico landscape.
Just, once again: Shot. Composition. One of thousands of reasons why this show will be taught to many freshmen cinema majors.
(Warning: The following one contains a graphic image and a visual spoiler for season 4.)
A brilliant moment in character (dying, and still straightening his tie) for Gus Fring, a brilliant and completely outlandish moment of un-reality for the series. And just an overall great shot.
One of the final shots of that pilot's first sequence. Walter White and his journey against the rest of the world — in his tighty-whities.
It makes you wonder what might echo in tonight's finale.
