The Chemistry of Character on BREAKING BAD and BETTER CALL SAUL: An Audiovisual Book

FAIN: FEL-282984-22

Jason Mittell
President and Fellows of Middlebury College (Middlebury, VT 05753-6004)

Research and writing leading to a digital monograph on characterization in television. 

This multimedia project will explore the landmark American television series BREAKING BAD and its follow-up BETTER CALL SAUL via the emerging format of videographic criticism, producing a collection of video essays interpreting the modes of characterization within the dual series. The resulting “audiovisual book” will be intellectually significant in three primary ways: adding to our theoretical and analytical understanding of characterization in moving image media; serving as one of the first extended single-authored studies of a pair of the most popular, acclaimed, and influential contemporary television series; and breaking new ground on how videographic criticism engages with television, establishing a new format of the audiovisual book focused on a television series. This audiovisual book should make a strong impact on both the academic field of media studies and general audience understanding of BREAKING BAD, BETTER CALL SAUL, and videographic criticism.

Associated Products

What is a Videographic Book? (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: What is a Videographic Book?
Author: Jason Mittell
Abstract: Over the past decade, film and media studies has seen the exciting rise of videographic criticism as an important and legitimate form of scholarship, with numerous publication and presentation venues emerging for academic video essays. While the parallels between video essays and journal articles are inexact, a videographic essay typically functions at roughly the same scope of a written article—but what would the videographic parallel be to an academic book? In this presentation, Jason Mittell explores the possibilities of a longer-format mode of videographic criticism, focusing both on potentials of the newly launched book series Videographic Books that he is editing for Lever Press, and his videographic book-in-progress, “The Chemistry of Character in BREAKING BAD.“
Date: 09/22/2022
Primary URL: https://blogs.umass.edu/videoessay/keynote-video-essayists/
Conference Name: Theory and Practice of the Video Essay

Television Aesthetics, Videographic Criticism, and the Case of BREAKING BAD (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Television Aesthetics, Videographic Criticism, and the Case of BREAKING BAD
Author: Jason Mittell
Abstract: Keynote presentation at the conference at University of Kent, UK, presenting three videos from project
Date: 07/07/2022
Primary URL: https://blogs.kent.ac.uk/tvaesthetics/
Conference Name: Television Aesthetics: Now What?

Breaking Genre, or How to Categorize BREAKING BAD (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Breaking Genre, or How to Categorize BREAKING BAD
Author: Jason Mittell
Abstract: Presentation of new video chapter
Date: 03/31/2022
Conference Name: Society for Cinema & Media Studies

The Chemistry of Character in Breaking Bad: A Videographic Book (Book)
Title: The Chemistry of Character in Breaking Bad: A Videographic Book
Author: Jason Mittell
Abstract: This multimedia, open access project explores the landmark American television series Breaking Bad (2008–13) via the emerging format of videographic criticism. Featuring a collection of open access video essays, this “videographic book” aims to interpret the particular modes of characterization within the series and discusses the significance of character as an aspect of media storytelling. With this innovative project, author Jason Mittell demonstrates the vital importance and exciting possibilities of analyzing a medium using its own media form. Videographic criticism examines media using the same material that it seeks to analyze: sounds and moving images. Videographic practices can reveal otherwise hidden facets of media, with videographic works potentially exploring aesthetic, experimental, poetic, and affective dimensions more effectively than written scholarship. Breaking Bad, which won dozens of awards throughout its five seasons, is particularly suitable for videographic criticism due to its notably vivid visual and aural style. Additionally, its construction of character is distinctive and groundbreaking, making it a welcome series to advance understanding of characterization in television and its connections to important facets like identity politics, morality, and viewer engagement. Each video essay can be viewed separately or watched together in the context of the book. This book will be of interest to academics focused on television, media studies, and narrative theory, and also to fans of the series and its vibrant characters. The format of this project is truly unique: it acts almost as a viewing guide with more than 20 embedded video essays alongside brief written commentaries contextualizing the videos. The Chemistry of Character in Breaking Bad is a great resource for any reader or viewer who wants to dive into the series once again.
Year: 2024
Primary URL: https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.14330227
Access Model: open access
Publisher: Lever Press
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 978-1-64315-06
Copy sent to NEH?: No

“How Videographic Criticism Can Help Make Sense of Breaking Bad” (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: “How Videographic Criticism Can Help Make Sense of Breaking Bad”
Abstract: Presentation on forthcoming videographic book
Author: Jason Mittell
Date: 11/11/2023
Location: Hamilton College

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