TV dramas

Breaking bad
By James Parker-Harvey

Iconography
Breaking bad is a crime drama, to which would include
iconic props in order to suit the genre. In breaking bad
we see drugs, police and guns which mainly go with a
crime drama. These iconic items/props are key to
crime drama as it defines what it is.
The police involved would tell us that some sort of
crime is unfolding which happens in every drama or
crime, in addition the guns signify danger and crime.
The drugs also signify illegal action, all these three
iconic items or people are key with a crime drama, as
these are the things that usually create the drama but
also help to stop the drama.

Narrative/plot
A man named Walter white is a chemistry teacher who
gets diagnosed with terminal cancer, he needs money for
an operation, and using his chemistry skills becomes a
meth dealer. Throughout the series many troubling
barriers get in his way such as hiding it from his wife and
police. We follow Walter and his partner Jessie in their
way to getting to the top of the dealers and learning all
the tricks involved with this trade. Once Walter gets rid
of the cancer, he carries on drug dealing even though the
stakes are even higher, and things continue to make an
inconvenience. As he envelops further into this life of
drugs and crime he creates a name for himself, that being
Heisenberg.

Characters
Walter- A chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with cancer,
becomes a drug dealer in order to save himself and
gradually becomes worse and worse.
Jessie- He is a former student at the school that Walter
works, and was kicked out of his house for continuous
drug use. In the series he is Walters partner, but at first
Walter did not think of it as a partnership as Walter was
threatening to turn him in.
Skyler white- She is Walters wife and is very protective
over her family, she eventually discovers what Walter has
been up to and struggles to cope with everything after a
long time.

Setting
The setting is New Mexico. Walter works in
Albequerque, New Mexico high school.

Technical aspects
The camera shots involved are very useful to the story, as
Walter in the series can go back and forth from being on top
then suddenly gets into trouble. The camera shots tell us
when he is dominant and he is not, from the shot on the top
we can see he is looking very dominant as it is a low angle
shot, which helps t make people look larger or stronger, also
you can see the emotions involved which is very intense and
controlling.
The shot on the bottem tells the same story, as the
character is looking intense and confident, and this would
tell us immediately that the character knows what he is
doing and we can trust them to do something that will get
them out of a situation but will also be unexpected.

Mise en scene
The costumes used help to identify the genre. The
costumes used such as the forensic suit is used,
because it can identify crime and show tells the
audience that a criminal act is happening as you
would use that costume for either inspecting a
body or cooking illegal substances.
The facial expressions/ emotions showed in the
picture shows confidence, which tells you that the
characters know what theyre doing and you know
that you can trust the characters but they also may
be unpredictable.