Analysis of Micro-Elements from Pilot Episode of "Breaking Bad" series

Micro-Elements Analysis: 

Breaking Bad Pilot 

Micro-elements are subtle nuances in films and tv shows that serve to subconscious influence the viewers perception of what they see. These can include a wide variety to techniques, including the use of color palettes to establish mood, the careful placement of objects to emphasize themes or foreshadow future plot developments, and subtle changes in the actor's demeanor (hesitations, shifts in body language) that hint at their internal psychological conflicts. "Breaking Bad" tells the story of a middle-class Chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with terminal cancer and turn to drug dealing to provide a nest egg for his family. The pilot episode contains a variety of micro-elements that highlight Walter White's desperate situation and hint at his potential for change.   

In this opening clip, we are introduced to Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher with a fairly miserable life and two struggling jobs. We are able to see that Walter is struggling as in his chemistry class, he has barely any students paying attention and enters a dispute with one of the students. This shows Walter’s lack of control over his class and also his life as we further explore more details. Later in the clip, we see Walter working another job as a cashier at a car wash, where Walt’s manager tells him to clean the cars due to a shortage in workers. This unfortunate turn of events aggravates Walter as he is forced to scrub the wheels of a car. Thing get worse as one of the disobedient students, Chad along with his girlfriend, run into Walt, calling him out and taking picture. On his way home, Walt drives through the neighborhood when conveniently, he discovers the the right storage compartment of his car had malfunctioned. Walt then attempts several times to seal it tight but to no avail.

Deeper meaning

This extract from the Breaking Bad’s pilot mainly serves to convey the extent of control Walter White has over his life. This lack of control is seen throughout the extract multiple times. During Walter’s lecture he explains to a student that what Chemistry actually is, and demonstrates his point by utilizing different colored gasses to adjust the intensity of the flame given out from a Bunsen burner. The use of color connotations in this scene greatly contributes to the effectiveness of mise-en-scene. There are three gas containers: Yellow, Green and Blue. The are all used to ignite the flame which is Red. Fire is often associated with passion, which is cleverly done by the director to let the audience know about Walt’s true-and literally burning-passion for chemistry. Another Micro-Element used in this scene is the camera angle. Here, a low angle shot is utilized to establish a moment where Walter is in control and slowly pans up when Chad disobeys him to illustrate a transition of power until eventually the next scene is played and the camera is back at normal height, ultimately limiting Walt’s power. These Micro-Elements are also identifiable at the car wash when Walter washes an orange sports car. The fact that the car is orange and a sports model, serves to contrast Walter’s pathetic, monotonous life with the car’s-metaphorically- luxurious, and fun lifestyle. It also puts Walter in his place as someone of a lower class as the camera is positioned equally/above him as he is kneeling. Finally, in the final scene of the clip, an over the shoulder shot is utilized as Walter is attempting to properly close shut the storage compartment whilst driving home. The shot creates a brief, minor moment of tension as it closes up to Walt’s heated facial expression giving of an atmosphere of frustration. The audience are able to anticipate whether Walt would eventually snap due to an amount of overwhelming irritation or would end up disastrously crashing his vehicle from the multitasking and the camera not providing a proper view of the road, therefore building up quite some tension.