How to Ruin a Scene: Breaking Bad's adaptation

what is the difference between this all right I just want to go on record we should all be wearing [Applause] masks and this well in the initial version the sentence though seemingly straightforward unfolds with layers of depth it means several things at once Walter White doesn't really care that they're not wearing masks in contrast Walter Blanco is the guy who asks the person next to him to pull up their mask on the bus the first one has many intentions the second one is a dialogue that I think not even the actor himself understands why he's saying it he just says it because it's written in the script I suppose so today I'd like to explore the nuances of film making particularly how subtle changes in Direction editing and acting can distinguish between a masterpiece scene and one that falls short of greatness all while using the exact same script the scening question is particular L hard to watch because metastasis appears to miss its subtleties it's a pivotal moment in Breaking Bad that leaves a trail of unanswered questions such as the motive behind Gus's decision to eliminate Victor but to simplify our discussion let's break it down step by step the scene unfolds in the first episode of the fourth season titled box cutter this happens after Walter manages to avoid being executed by Mike J Do It by asking Jesse to till Gail consequently Gus loses his potential head coach your boss is going to need me Victor frustrated for failing to prevent Jesse from killing Gail faces the additional rebuke from Mike for being seen at the crying scene H happened as a result Victor enters the scene with his status significantly diminished and that's what the scene is largely about status and Authority Su I make it 10 to n which means sh up after waiting for Gus to show up Walter remarks on the valuable time they're losing for cooking this prompts Victor to take matters into his own hands and sees the initiative and when he says this genius watch me obviously he's trying to rectify the situation and gain some points in his favor after having lost so many anyway the scene opens with Victor cooking Mike displaying indifference Jesse still processing the fact that he cold-bloodedly killed a good guy and Walter looking suspiciously at Victor and I don't think it's so much because he threatens to take his position it's more an ego issue because there's another kid playing with his toy faced with this his first reaction is the one we saw at the beginning of the video all right I just want to go on record we should all be where [Applause] masks now let's compare this with this well I know it might seem silly but in these 13 seconds lies everything needed to distinguish between these two series it's a moment where the subtleties are fundamental because they carry the scene's intention but to make myself clear let me show you a bit more should be wearing [Applause] masks both Walters insist on the same idea again firstly there's a notable acting concern when Walter White utters this line all right I just want to go on record we should all be wearing masks it's quite absurd to think it's because he genuinely cares about not wearing masks especially when he believes he's about to be killed the dialogue and the way it's expressed are very clever because it lets us know he's trying to normalize an extraordinary situation downplaying what happened and what he did something he often does in the series and did seconds before I make it 10 to n which means sh which means we need to start a cook in the next 10 minutes to keep to our schedule and it's also a way to ass dominance with a slightly arrogant and paternalistic tone which he also often does basically the message is to follow his orders that he's the one who knows it's a way of trying to regain power and even the way he says it plays into this the Arrogant Manner and how he drags the words all right I just want to go on record we should all be wearing masks he only needs a glass of wine and a robe to be at home telling his kids to clean the table on the other hand when we hear from Walter Blanco all I see is a guy genuinely concerned that we wear masks there are no further implications or subtext it's just that but let's continue wearing masks based with this Victor keeps working Mike stands up as a direct way to downplay what Walter says it's a way of dismissing it showing that he's ignoring it which gains more strength because he's about to serve himself coffee from none other than the machine Dale made as a kind of reminder of the murder they are about to be judged for in the tasticus the reaction of Mike whose name is Miguel in this case is as follows yep just that the fact that Mike stands up just as Walter speaks and serves himself coffee from Gail's machine is significant however Miguel staring at Walter while chuning gum doesn't carry the same narrative weight and what also happens is that when Mike stands up Walter sees him leave in this case Brian Cranston has an opportunity to react because he may feel affected by the fact that Mike explicitly ignores him it's a tool for the actor a stimulus which he can turn into a reaction enable ing him to make an arrogant gesture seek refuge in Jesse by looking at him and then finish with that shake of his head there is an intention in Walter one in Mike and even the lack of intention in Jesse to ignore him Walter and Jesse coexist in the frame and we understand that Jesse remains in a State of Shock after having taken Gail's life in the tasticus we cut to a shot of Victor that isn't very relevant Walter Blanco insists on the face mask again and then the camera pans to Jose the Colombian version of Jesse but we don't have the most important thing Walter's gaze at Jose that search for complicity plus the actor doesn't have the opportunity to react to anything because he doesn't have a sous Like Walter White does from Mike basically he's acting alone but let's continue again what's interesting is that Walter tries the same thing again but with a different approach he forgets the aluminum guaranteed guaranteed he forgets he spends a few seconds once again commenting arrogantly about Victor and especially trying to to establish some connection with Jesse once again with just these dialogues he seeks to normalize the situation connect with Jesse feed his ego and regain some power some status and facing this the joke is that he doesn't regain absolutely anything you forgot the aluminum one of the first steps in in the tasticus everything is much more explicit and the big difference is that Walter shares a look with Jose and this look is significant because there is a deliberate choice for it to be present although I'm not entirely sure why in contrast in Breaking Bad there's a very conscious decision for it not to be there for it not to exist because under no circumstances should Jesse look at Walter or react to Such trivial comments this sheds light on what's going on in his head regarding his feelings about what he did and how he feels about Walter and as the sequence unfolds Gus enters the scene needless to say Gus Ring's entrance is much more imposing than Gustavo in the metastasis version when Gus enters there's an uninterrupted crane movement that lets him in an imposing close-up shot with areas of cheer squirrel and reds provided by his attire obviously this crane movement alone costs a few thousand dollar but the point is that he appears as a very threatening figure Gustavo on the other hand the Colombian version barely appears for a few seconds in the background his entrance is less intimidating but let's delve a bit more into guses and now with Gustavus if Gus ends up in a close-up shot emphasized by a camera movement towards him Gustavo is framed with much more light levels and the composition leaves him without any distinction with elements that even interrupt his figure diminishing his presence additionally in Breaking Bad they leave the moment without music so that the only sound present to M sound design is his footsteps literally his presence something that in metastasis is overshadowed because this moment is accompanied by incessant music that drowns out the sound of gustavo's steps it wouldn't be so bad if it were a specific decision but the problem is that music is constantly used to score the scenes instead of playing with sound because while generating emotions with music is always easier anyway something interesting also happens with the looks and the timing while in Breaking Bad they leave the shot of gust without cutting it creating a dense entrance that makes the shot feel Eternal and compels you to look away in metastasis they cut it instantly if gustavo's shot lasts 4 seconds guses lasts twice as long in Breaking Bad when we cut we see Mike Jesse and Walter seen from above as a block and this this concept of a block is important for what happens next Walter for the first time is deflated and abandoning the role of the Arrogant father Jesse for the first time reacting to some stimulus from the scene and Mike well Mike is still Mike next we see a closer shot of Walter during which he lowers his gaze a contrast to Gus who in the subsequent shot maintains his gaze asserting his higher status then Gus looks at Victor a significant moment as Victor responds with a childlike smile seeking approval like a student asking for an A+ from the teacher and to include the bastard gazes at Walter seemingly taunting him with what lies ahead all this editing game is important and is what differentiates this from this while Victor maintains a poker face as he looks at Gustavo P's reaction remains empty much like when he reacts to something as trivial as Walter talking about aluminum we don't even know who the hell Gustavo is looking at because there's no Montage construction of it and for some reason this Walter has the guts and can hold gustavo's gaze until the commercial break the exchange of glances feels cliche lacking subtlety and depth anyway both Gustavo descend the stairs theone from Breaking Bad moves much slower adding more tension to his passage until they are all downstairs together perhaps the main difference at this moment is that in Breaking Bad Victor and Gus are visually connected because they share the same frame until Gus leaves it leaving us with another glance from Victor he is visually present in the seam constantly whereas in metastasis it's only Gustavo Victor's presence is non-existent the issue is that like much of the series only what matters at that moment is shown I'm not sure if I'm explaining myself well but if gustavel enters the conversation then we only see Gustavo because he is the one taking action but we don't see Gustavo in relation to Victor once again the Crux of the matter lies in distinguishing between illustrative language which merely depicts and cinematic language which establishes connections and this is something that repeats throughout the scene but to continue mentioning it would be redundant all right let's talk about Gail bener he was a good man and a good chemist and I cared about him from this point onward what happens is Walter trying to convince Gus that Victor can't cook certainly not him this this person doesn't know what the hell he's doing and the tasticus doesn't do it poorly it's a moment that is executed quite well with the acting Direction and editing factors working correctly however in my opinion what's highly critique Worthy is the box cutter moment in Breaking Bad it goes like this let us work we're we're we're ready to go to work we'll just pick up right where we left off and in metastases it's like this if Gus practically interrupts Walter White Gustavo lets him finish and the moment itself is quite different first Gus abruptly attacks Victor catching everyone off guard in a more erratic and surprising manner in a single shot we witness the varied reactions of Mike Walter and Jesse each responding differently Mike disavows his boss instinctively raising the gun as he perceives it as a threat Walter is visibly frightened fearing for his life while Jesse exhibits more than fear anger in any case all three are depicted as a unified group that fails to comprehend the situation on the other hand we witness shots of G killing Victor and Beyond the action itself what's important is that Gus doesn't stop looking at Walter while doing it and once again Walter is terrified Jesse is andry and Mike is surprised wondering why the hell he didn't retire it's interesting because even though they're in the same boat of non-standing all the characters have a different reaction that nuances them and tells us about them in metastasis the reactions are more generic they're almost the same any reaction from any character would be valid for another and and Gustavo doesn't look at Walter or Jose he doesn't do it when he's slitting Victor's throat and he doesn't do it at any moment notice the significance Breaking Bad places on the glances where even in Victor's final moments he looks at Walter attributing the weight of his demise to him concluding the scene Gus directs his gaze first to the still terrified Walter then to Jesse whose sustained shot brims with anger in contrast to Walter's fear the series highlights this moment as pivotal characterized by an exchange of glances that reveals much about its character Mike indicates that his boss is likely reaching a level of Madness he's never witnessed before Walter visibly frightened perhaps because he perceives Victor's death as eerily reminiscent of his own fate while Jesse appears more inclined towards anger possibly due to the callousness with which Gus disregards human life or the coldblooded execution of a loyal associate regardless the emotions of anger fear and surprise convey distinctly different messages this crucial moment is absent in the tasticus where the focus lies solely on Victor's lifeless body prioritizing the graphic and almost gory elements of the scene over emotional depth and there isn't even a glance from Gus as there isn't Breaking Bad which is what leaves behind his message and the meaning of this whole moment Cinema is an audiovisual medium and it doesn't matter if a script is written by the same Vince Gilligan himself this is especially true in a scene like this get back to where the essence lies precisely in everything that isn't EXP explicitly written as someone working in the Latin American film industry specifically in Colombia I can say that knowing the internal process what was achieved was a miracle in just 6 months the team shot 60 episodes of the series in less than a year and with a much smaller budget but thinking about great Latin American series if you ask me I believe there's a Latin American Breaking Bad that is much more representative of the industry an Argentine series called okupas its protagonist is literally a kind of Jessie pink a middle-class young man gradually drawn into a criminal life he didn't need but found seductive in the absence of a bigger purpose in his life gradually the series depicts the protagonist decline consequences and moral corruption and he also shaves his head like a lost disciple of Mike but don't be alarmed the series is from the year 2000 and it marked a before and after in portraying marginality and criminality in Latin America as well as in the way of making series moreover it boasts one of the best scripts I've seen in one of my favorite moments that truly resembles Vin skill style when he discovers that His companion who before leaving gave him a gun and made him shave his head was actually framing him all of this conveyed without a single [Music] word

Channel: Lancelloti

Views: 1,101,617

Keywords:

Id: U4od66oyD98

Length: 16min 26sec (986 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 10 2024