The Genius of Vince Gilligan: Subtle Meaning Making in Breaking Bad

By this point, if you have watched the entire run of Breaking Bad, it is fairly plain to see that everything the audience is shown on screen no matter how insignificant it may seem, always has meaning beneath it, and more often than not, comes back into focus to affect the plot in some way or another. Because everything is premeditated, it is that much more important to study the various camera angles, uses of sound, costuming, and lighting techniques, which all heavily influence Breaking Bad's meaning making process.

Lighting has always been an integral part to the meaning making process of Breaking Bad, especially when used to convey the particular characters current emotions or moral compass. The picture below is a great example of how this is used.

Walt consumed by the darkness. (Episode 513, "Confessions")

In this particular scene from season 5 episode 11 entitled, "Confessions," Walt is framed in almost complete darkness after he successfully blackmails Hank into scaling back his investigation. This darkness he is framed in is possibly an allegory for the darkness and evil that has consumed Walt's soul over the course of the last five seasons, and blackmailing Hank is finally what has catapulted him into complete darkness.

Breaking Bad has always been praised for its visual beauty and breathtaking cinematography, but beyond looking great, the shot selection is carefully selected and pieced together in order to make meaning. A lot of times, the camera angles are used to perpetuate the characters feelings and thoughts.
In the shot below, the camera starts high above Jesse and then he is framed in a canted angle, as the camera follows him moving in circles on the merry-go-round, counterclockwise.

Jesse contemplating life. (Episode 512, "Buried")

The unsettling shot is meant to encompass Jesse's emotional turbulence, after referring to his $5 million as "Blood Money." The unpredictable nature of the camera is in line with Jesse's unpredictable behavior thus far in the fifth season. Often times, these obscure camera angles are substituted with close-up's in order to convey emotion in different ways. The camera angle is often just as important as the character's facial expressions. Michael Slovis, a recurring DP, series writer and executive producer explains, "We always head towards the emotion of the scene and not necessarily towards seeing the faces. Lighting, camera angle, shadows on the character's faces all lead the viewer to a powerful emotion.


One of the most common motifs in Breaking Bad is the use of colors in the wardrobe to draw meaning making from. Eric Dodds from Time Magazine comments, "Walt's cancer diagnosis and subsequent turn to crime led to a drastic shift in color scheme." Before he got into the meth business, Walt wore a lot of muted colors, mostly khaki, which helped solidify his milquetoast, every-man nature. Once Walt becomes a major player in the drug trade, he starts bringing green into his wardrobe a lot more often, symbolizing greed, which as we have seen during these last eight episodes, is something that still controls him very much.

Walt in muted beige, before he was "Heisenberg" (Pilot episode)

Walt in his more customary green, after killing Gus (Episode 413, "Faceoff")

Walt isn't the only character who has his clothes mirror his personality at the time. For instance, Hank and other members of the DEA wear different shades of orange in order to represent law enforcement. As always, the color black is often used in order to demonstrate a pending doom for certain characters. For example, if you look back to season 2, Jane (Jesse's girlfriend) wears black in almost every scene she is in, ultimately culminating with her death at the end of the season. This season, Marie started fading away from her usual purple outfits and started wearing black a lot more, which worried a lot of fans that it might be signaling death for someone close to her. These decisions when it comes to character's wardrobe's are consciously made and thoroughly thought out, and ultimately give the audience a closer look at who these characters truly are."

Black signals impending doom. Remember Jane?  (Episode 211, "Mandala")

Marie should have stuck with purple. R.I.P. Hank. (Episode 511, "Confessions")

One of the elements that is often overlooked in Breaking Bad but is still crucial to its success, is the sound design. Very rarely does Breaking Bad use an actual song rather than one that was written for the show, but when it does, it adds meaning to the scene. For instance, this scene from episode 508, "Gliding Over All," uses a song that seems entirely counter-intuitive to what is happening due to its upbeat nature, but when listening to the lyrics, some of them really resonate with Walter's current predicament. Be forewarned, this scene is very violent and brutal.

A popular sound technique used in the show is often when a character is facing a situation of turmoil, and everyone around them is muted, with nothing but ringing in the ears filling the room. This happens multiple times in the series, and is often a cue to how the character is feeling and acclimating to their situation. For instance this tactic is used when Walt realizes he has stage three lung cancer, and the ringing noise makes the audience sympathize with Walt as we are put into his shoes, trying to make sense of everything that is happened. This same technique is used when Skylar is being questioned by the police/DEA in episode 515, "Granite State." Sound bridges are also frequently used in order to subtlety take the action from one place to another. Sometimes it comes in the form of a previous conversation serving as a voice over to help frame the new scene and clue the audience in on what is happening exactly. The last key component in sound design that is used to make meaning is obviously the score that accompanies each episode. With the exception of the series' main theme, a different score is written specifically for each episode in order to embody an emotion of a particular character or a set of characters. Composer Dave Porter states, "Our characters and situations change so much, when you try to use a piece from a previous scene or season, it doesn't work, because the characters attitudes are not the same as they were then.

It's a shame that Breaking Bad has to come to an end this Sunday, because I doubt there will be another show for a very long time that successfully employs subtle meaning making in almost every scene whether it be through the lighting, the assortment of different camera angles, the wardrobe selection, or the sound design, everything within a Breaking Bad episode is put in there for a significant reason.

Works Cited

Dodds, Eric. "Hidden Breaking Bad: The Stuff You May Have Missed." Entertainment Hidden Breaking Bad The Stuff You May Have Missed Comments. N.p., 24 Sept. 2013. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.

Newman, Melinda. "'Breaking Bad' Composer Dave Porter Talks Vince Gilligan and Final Season." HitFix. N.p., 07 Aug. 2013. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.

Slovis, Michael. "Behind the Lens: Michael Slovis, ASC & Breaking Bad." : Cinematography. N.p., 11 Aug. 2013. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.