The document discusses visual storytelling techniques used in several television shows and films, including Breaking Bad, American Psycho, Trailer Park Boys, and Better Call Saul. It analyzes how specific shots, camera angles, colors, locations, and objects are used to convey characters' emotions, advance the plot, and engage the audience. It notes that many of the examples use visuals subtly yet effectively to provide context and raise questions in the viewers' minds. The document also comments on the strong audio production design in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul in further immersing the audience.

1. Research
Your Name

2. Existing Product
This is a shot from the television series Breaking Bad. The shot is a long shot, to show that these men are alone for miles, deserts
are also a common metaphor for isolation and loneliness – so the environment fits in more. The main reason I want to look at this
show and this particular shot is because of the show’s use of colour as a storytelling device, commonly the show uses the colour
yellow to signify danger, blue to signify comfort to name a couple; these colours also signify other things like meth but for this
example I will mainly just be talking about their initial use. This shot depicts a tense situation between the show’s main character,
Walter, and his boss, it’s difficult to use protagonist/antagonist when discussing this show due to the show’s unconventional
storytelling. The scene is depicting a very dangerous situation for Walter as he directly disobeyed his drug kingpin boss and is
under very serious threat of being murdered, hence why yellow is used.

3. Existing Product
In this scene as well as many others, however I feel it has another sub textual layer to it. The shot is set up to show a symmetry
between the two men, with both the cars being in more or less the same position on either side etc. This relates to the symmetry
between Walter and his boss, Gus, as the show sets up an element through Walter gradually emulating every one of his enemies,
with Gus he wants to emulate his drug empire and his ability to have a front of being a family man, so he can hide being an overly
professional position as a drug kingpin. Finally coming back to my to the shots symmetry and colour, the shot is set up with Walt
being the one in the weaker position, shown through the use of lower angles later on in the scene and the yellow colour, however
at a deeper inspection is Walter really the one in that position? Or is Gus the one in that position? I feel like these two questions
are brought up in the viewers mind through this scene. The show also uses costumes to add another sub textual layer to the show,
as Walter’s clothing changes throughout the show with his metamorphosis from timid secondary school teacher to high profile
drug dealer, this is shown through the colour of his clothing getting gradually darker as the show goes on.
A character’s death is somewhat foreshadowed due to
the yellow bed sheets, as they eventually end up dying in
this bed.

4. Existing Product
I will try to analyse this scene from the first episode of Breaking Bad, where Walter quits his job at a
car wash where he is frequently degraded and subsequently emasculated.
The scene starts out with a medium shot of Walter, he is unfocused and lost in his mind due to his
recent cancer diagnosis, the show communicates this by the audio being very quiet and subdued
and by Walter staring out the window, just to the left of the frame outside of the center. This tells
us Walt’s state of being but it also tells us that the scene is set in Walt’s perspective. I also want to
note the shape of the interior, most shots have certain shapes to them, mainly triangles, circles and
squares, all used for communicating different things, like subtext or emotion. As you can see the
shape in this shot is a square, or more specifically…a box. A box where Walter is confined and kept,
a state of confinement he got himself in through a lifetime of passiveness and lack of ambition; him
looking outside the window like a depressed dog is Walt preparing to break out! Weighing up his
options and realising he has nothing to lose, his days are numbered due to his cancer. To break out
of this weakened state Walt has to ‘react’, just like the chemicals he deals with everyday as a
chemistry teacher, he needs a reaction to produce a change. Its here where Walt changes his
emasculted position by becomming overtly masculine and quits his job by insulting his boss, making
a big show of emotion and grabbing his crotch, just how primates do it in the wild; by flaunting
their masculinity to assert dominance over other competing males.

5. Existing Product
I chose this shot from the 2000 movie adaptation of American Psycho, the shot starts from a medium close-up shot and
eventually ends up as an extreme close-up as the camera slowly gets closer to the character’s, Patrick’s, face. I really like how
this scene works because it’s another great use of visual storytelling to go alongside what the character is thinking and feeling
at that moment, at this point in the movie, which you could call the resolution, Patrick has reached a reflationary point where
he realises he isn’t really that mentally well; to say the least. The shot shows this perfectly by slowly zooming in on his face,
close-ups are used to show the emotional state of a character, which links to his internal emotional turmoil. All the while
there’s a sign behind him that becomes more readable as the camera comes closer, this is the reason why I find this scene to
be quite exceptional, because just as Patrick hits the peak of his realisation you can read that the sign says ‘This is not an exit’,
which is a perfect link to Patrick’s current realisation that he’s insane, and that he’s stuck like this with his warped reality;
because there’s no exit from his own insane mind.

6. Existing Product
This third example is from the Canadian Mockumentary series Trailer Park Boys, the show has always had a very low
budget, comedically low, most commonly resulting in the show not having great production value in terms of lighting, shot
composition etc. I feel like this show’s strengths lie mainly in it’s audience appeal, through it’s likable characters who as a
result have created a loyal cult fan base that are always ready for more content. I feel like this show appeals mainly to a
demographic of underachievers and people who tend to indulge in simple pleasures more often than most people, shown
through the characters in the show frequently getting drunk, having money problems, doing drugs, getting into fights with
family and eating junk food all on a very regular basis. This is another case of an audience feeling like they’re being
represented in the media, through this they can feel like they can relate to the characters as they, maybe to a lesser extent,
go through the same hardships in life as the characters.
The most common way the show is shot is with handheld camera, resulting in often shaky camera movements that make
the show feel more real, linking in with the mockumentary style adopted by the show. The show does not use traditional
shooting techniques as having a well set up shot, with a tripod and close-ups would detract from the style and suggested
reality of the show.

7. Existing Product
The fourth product is the television series Better Call Saul, a prequel spin-off to Breaking Bad
centered around supporting character Saul Goodman, a sleazy criminal lawyer at the start of his
criminal career before he fully found himself. A reason I want my film to emulate this show is due
to it’s great use of visual storytelling to give information and development to it’s lead character.
The character of Saul is down on his luck and can’t seem to find himself in the world, the show
visually communicates this to the audience so immaculately and so subtly to the point that I can’t
believe it’s actually real. At the start of the show, Saul is working as a public defender and has just
lost a case, he is at this point already feeling down, this is known to the audience as they’ve just
witnessed the whole courtroom scene. Now, to further emphasise this emotional low point, the
scene after the introduction shows Saul walking into a car park and towards a really nice expensive
car, silver paint job, leather interiors etc. The shot is framed as though that this is Saul’s car,
however when he gets close to it, the frame shifts to show a beat-up old yellow car, with a
mismatched red door, this is Saul’s car. This is a great example of subverting the audiences
expectations and fully conveys the situation the character is in and how different it is from where
he is later on in Breaking Bad. This is great even down to the subtle touches which further inform
the audience, like the red door; Saul feels unsure and out of place just like his car door.
The next thing I want to discuss is a great scene that I intend to somewhat replicate in my film, it
takes place later on in the same episode as the last example. It starts off with Saul entering a very
lucrative law firm that is part owned by his brother, for multiple reasons Saul is not on the best
terms with the firm. The scene starts with a lower angle shot of a damaged, presumably kicked-in
bin, we don’t know how it happened due to its subtlety, other than assuming that it was Saul. After
a scene takes place within the firm going very badly, Saul exits the same lift he went up in and it is
here that the audience has their suspicions confirmed when an enraged Saul leaves the lift and
absolutely annihilates the bin. I feel like this is great visual story telling due to its initial subtlety and
eventual satisfying payoff, however what really makes this scene is how the show raises questions
in the audiences mind, questions that eventually pay off in a way that makes the audience feel like
they’re being properly engaged with.

8. Research Analysis
• What common features do the researched products have?
• Most of the given examples use visual storytelling to a great degree, with camera angles and objects in the set giving tonnes
of information to the audience.
• Both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul have great audio production, with each sound effect used from footsteps to diegetic
noises all sounding and fitting great within the context of the scene. This relates to my strong values relating to sound
production in film and the underrated importance of it, as it can make the difference to how invested the audience is, this
won’t be easy for me to incorporate into my project as creating strong sound production can be a very difficult task because
it can’t be an afterthought.
• What aspects of the research will you include within your own
production work?
• I intend to use a lot of the same production elements as my example, mainly the colour theory, blocking and framing. I really
want to incorporate colour into my project at least to some degree, as I really enjoy using colour as it’s a great way to further
add visual information to a scene due to colour’s great symbolic potential. I think I’ll end up using blocking and framing in
conjunction with each other to create a sense of visual storytelling, like in my research on Better Call Saul with the bin and
how it subtlety built up the scene whilst planting the question in the audience’s mind and let it grow until the payoff.
• I plan to incorporate decent sound production in my project and make sure the sound effects and music fit and add to the
scene, bad audio is most commonly associated with poorly made productions and I feel that it can make the difference to
elevate a film to a professional standard.

9. Audience Research

10. Primary Audience research
• Every teenager in this day and age has access to the internet, through their home
life, phones and even school. Especially with most teenagers born this century
having grown up with the internet, the same way older generations grew up with
television – the last big generational form of entertainment and information; with
both in some cases being used as a babysitters. This became even more apparent
with the advent of YouTube and online streaming services like Netflix and Amazon
Prime mostly taking over regular television, at this point making it an obsolete
option for most teenagers and the in fluxed ‘ADHD’ generation - due to the
widespread readiness of content and being able to instantly stream a show instead
of waiting for it to air at 9pm.
• Essentially what I’m saying is that teenagers nowadays would rather stream
entertainment online in the comfort of their own bedroom making the idea of
getting up and going to the living room or making the journey to a cinema an
undesirable option, although many young people still do attend the cinema with
their demographic actually making up the majority of cinema audiences at 29%.
Furthermore this is why I am choosing to publish my project on YouTube, and that
the content of my project should cohere to the needs and wants of my target
audience – specifically something that will hold their attention long enough that
they give it a chance.

11. Primary Audience research
I surveyed ten people aged from 16 to early thirties
about their opinions of short films, primarily relating to
their age range and personal tastes. As you can see to
the left, the common age range of the people I
surveyed is at 17, or more broadly, teenagers. And as
you can also see their opinions on short films are
generally positive with half saying they like them,
however if I were to look at this data critically I could
argue that the credibility of the data is a little
handicapped by the fact that the people I asked already
had somewhat of a positive opinion on film due to the
fact that most of them study it. This also relates to the
fact that the main audience for short films are mainly
young adults in their 20’s as opposed the late teenage
demographic my survey otherwise says.

12. Primary Audience research
This piece of data I surveyed suggests that the most popular genre of film/entertainment is
drama, followed by comedy and a little by documentaries and horror; no one likes thrillers,
poor little guy. Id say it’s fair to say that drama’s are the most ‘realistic’ genre, that being it’s
the closest to some form of reality due to it’s often melodramatic content. This could say that
audiences at times prefer it when a piece of entertainment strikes some kind of chord with
reality, at least enough to perhaps make the events/characters more relatable. This is
contrasted by comedy coming in second place, perhaps meaning audiences prefer a balanced
dichotomy of light and dark content material to expose themselves to.

13. Secondary Audience research
• According to the ‘Department of Health and Human Services’ 55% of teenagers use social
networking sites, which does seem a bit low however I’m unsure as to how many teens that
actually could be. However, what I’m getting at is most teenagers will have a two ways of
living their lives, the first being the normal everyday life everyone is living, no difference
there, and the second being the life they present to people and their friends through social
media – the second ideally being the life they want people to associate with them, so a fun,
adventurous and exciting lifestyle. No one wants to be associated with living a boring,
uneventful life and no one really wants to live one – so a way for certain people to overcome
this is to project a fun and exciting life online to all their friends and any miscellaneous
people stumbling across their feed, its like wearing a sign across your chest that reads ‘I’m ok’
while they visibly cry in a corner.
• What I’m saying is that teenagers today, specifically in the age bracket of 15-26 and even
lower, spend a lot of time on the internet using social media, most commonly this serves as a
distraction for them from their real world obligations – with Americans all together checking
their phones at least 8 billion times a day, with most people even checking during a movie or
while their doing something they are enjoying. Essentially what I hope to accomplish with my
project is to make something that could potentially be something that people will be invested
enough in to not check out and look at their phones during…or at the very least be the thing
on their phone that their checking out of the world with.

14. Secondary Audience research
This chart shows the statistics for how film is consumed by audiences in the UK, as you can see TV
and DVD both hold the majority over alternate options like online streaming. So naturally you’d
think that my theories on how the main form of consuming movies for teenagers and how they use
the internet for watching content is incorrect, as clearly you can see that it is in fact TV and DVD’s.
However, this is a representation of all demographics and I’d bet a great deal that the majority of
the audiences that use online methods are mostly, if not nearly all, in the age range of 15-24 and
younger. In theory, meaning that more common methods like TV and DVD are outdated, if at the
very least on the decline for future generations.

15. Secondary Audience research
• A lot of content aimed at teenage audiences tend to have similar themes, mainly relating
around growing up and coming of age and the harsh emotional states surrounding them, the
best examples being ‘The Breakfast Club’ and ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ and the worst being
‘Twilight’ and ‘The Fault in our Stars’. Never mind the fact that both sets of examples have a
significant time gap in release and that the newer examples are more aimed towards girls. It’s
not news to know that this period of someone’s life is also the most emotionally hectic, with
new and fleeting emotions coming and going paired with incompetence of the overall
inexperience of trying to be the person you want to be going into adulthood.
• This is why a lot of the movies aimed at teenagers like the previously mentioned examples
deal with a lot of emotional melodrama, as with any product as long as the audience can on
some level connect with it, it’s succeeded at its job and if the audience feel like they’ve been
accurately represented in it somehow then even better!

16. Subject Research
Most pieces of visual media that have overdub/narration always have a corresponding
visual stimulus that relates to the information presented. The example beneath is a
documentary, meaning it has overdub and also has a corresponding visual stimulus,
this particular clip is about some silly plane or something; so there is also a
video/image of the plane.

17. Practical Research

18. Practical Research
An old, unused logo -

19. Practical Research
Part of an early script I was writing-

20. Practical Research

21. Bibliography

22. Bibliography
1. Kyran Feeley (2019) Target Audience Research Survey – Short Film
Questionnaire (conducted on 4/4/19)