Narrative theory

The extract begins with an establishing shot of the setting with cactus and Dust Mountains to convey to the audience that the scene is set in the desert. It is later explained to us that the setting is in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We find out the setting from the close up camera-like shot of the character Walter White (Bryan Cranston). The rest of the shots are wide shots which show the audience the action that is the caravan is going down a dusty road before he crashes that caravan in a ditch. The final shot is a mid-torso shot which shows Walter White pointing a gun to a far distance.

Some of the movement is presented to show Walter running away from the police because there are faint siren sounds of police cars. Glass is breaking because of the shaky movements of the vehicle and there are people sliding up and down on the floor of the RV in a pool of brown liquid. Smoke is used to reflect the crash that happened in the ditch.

Walter White is at first seen to be naked, only just wearing white briefs and shoes and socks however towards the middle of the scene, he is wearing a light green shirt along with bull-rimmed glasses and a gas mask. The caravan is dark in the inside which conceals the clues to figuring out the plot of the scene. Natural lighting is used to make the setting of the desert realistic. Walter White is portrayed to being an outlaw family man because he attempts to run away from the police. In addition he films a goodbye message to his wife, Skylar and son Walter Jr. He is at first upset and crying however his demeanour changes to a somewhat anger as he points the gun directly to somewhere in the distance.

A gas mask is used because it suggests that there is a toxic chemical either liquid or gas in the RV which could kill the passengers. The dead people represent the effect of the toxic gas/liquid. The scene begins silently before the RV comes in to shot with a fast-paced drum-like beat to represent the rushed panicky nature of the scene. There are faint police sounds that grow larger when gaining closer to the location of Walter White. The sounds at the end have a high chime and it ascends slowly from low to high before it immediately halts to a stop.

The scene follows Barthes theory of enigma code because it demonstrates a mystery from beginning to end. Various questions are asked like:

•     Who is Walter White, Skylar and Walter Jr.?
•     Why has Walter thrown his trousers away?
•     Why are there dead people in the RV?
•     Why is he running from the police?
•     Why does he have a gas mask?
•     Why does he shoot the gun in the distance?

All these questions are generated in the audiences thought process and it makes the audience viewer want to watch more to have those questions answered. It creates a sense of suspense and mystery which allows the audience to interact and explore different theories behind their thoughts on the scene from the Breaking Bad scene.