JOSH SHEETZ portfolio

JOSH SHEETZ
portfolio

table of contents
Fishing Blog
Hang Gliding Blog
Turtle Time blog
https://joshsheetz15.wordpress.com/2015/04/16/fishing/
https://joshsheetz15.word-
press.com/2015/04/16/hang-glid-
https://joshsheetz15.wordpress.com/2015/04/16/turtle-time/
ESPN Blog
https://joshsheetz15.wordpress.
com/2015/02/23/espn-media-giant/
POW WOW Blog
https://joshsheetz15.wordpress.
com/2015/02/17/pow-wow-hawaii-272015-2142015/
Magnum p.i reaction paper
Hello everyone my name is Josh Sheetz. I am a 25 year old sophomore here at HPU majoring in Advertising
with an emphasis in creative design. I have lived in Hawaii for the past 3 years, I moved here after I
was retired from the Army from injuries I sustained over seas. I joined the military at the age of twenty
so i could travel and deploy to Afghanistan to have some fun, which i did. I was stationed in Germany
for three years with the 170th IBCT 2nd battalion 18th Infantry unit. I loved every minute i was in
Europe when I wasn’t busy with the military i was traveling all over Europe with friends. I enlisted into
the military as infantry. I grew up in a small town in Colorado called Greeley, with my mom and my little
sister Chantae who is now 23. They both still live in Colorado. When i am not at school i enjoy being
active i enjoy hiking, fishing, snorkeling, body boarding and pretty much anything else outside, i am always
looking for fun adventures with my girlfriend Kate. I look forward to this semester and working with
everyone in this class.
https://joshsheetz15.wordpress.
com/2015/02/07/magnum-p-i-reaction/
breaking bad term paper
blog comments
team presentation
hiff extra credit
social media presence

FISHING
H
A
N
G
Over the week my nephew was visiting from Colorado I got a chance to
take him fishing at one of my favorite fishing spots in Kaneohe. The first
day Liam was here he wanted to go fishing, so we packed up and headed
for K bay. When we got there it was a nice sunny warm day with Helicopters
taking off in the background. As soon as I got his new pole I bought
him all set up and got some bait on it, he put the line in the water and sat
down. Within five minutes the pole was nearly jerked out of his hand, he
had his first ever fish. After about 2 minutes of fighting the fish he had
it up on the pier. He couldn’t have been any happier with his first fish. I
am glad i am still able to share firsts with him even though he lives so far
away from me. Best day fishing I have ever had it is so exciting to see a
Childs excitement when they catch a fish.
On 9 April 2015 while my little sister Chantae was visiting from Colorado we got the once in
a lifetime opportunity to go power hang gliding on the North Shore of Oahu. While my sister
was visiting she wanted to do something a little out of the box and extreme and her choice was
to go power hang gliding out of Dillingham air field outside of Haleiwa. We left Honolulu at
530 am for our 645am sunrise flights after taking off at 80mph you are instantly greeted with
the most breath taking views of the north shore. Since the company we flew with specializing
in instructional flights we were given the opportunity to fly the aircrafts. I was able to fly the
hang glider for more then half our flight when my arms became tired. We flew a little over
4000 feet about the beautiful island. Where we wove in and out of clouds like a couple of mice
in a maze. This was truly a day i will never forget
G
L
I
D
E

ESPN is undoubtfully a media giant, but with little know hands in everything they are becoming a technology
giant as well. With a slogan like “The world leader in sports” its hard to deny they are one of the
only choices to turn for sports entertainment and news. They now have operating platforms on android
and apple so users can stream HD media services on the go. Little know fact about ESPN is that the majority
share holder is The Disney Corporation holding 80% of its shares. Richard A. Gershon author of Issues
in Transnational Media Management defines a transnational media corporation as:
Turtle time over the past week
my little sister Chantae and my
3 year old nephew Liam were on
the island visiting from Colorado.
And what Hawaiian vacation
is complete with out seeing on
of the islands beautiful green sea
turtles that frequent our beautiful
island. While taking them around
the north shore of Oahu I decided
to take them to one of my favorite
beaches for swimming with turtles.
On any given day there are usually
10-15 turtles swimming around
the rocky coast eating. Today while
in the water one guy was more interested
in me and came up to me
to say hi and this was the picture I
got with my go pro.
TURTLE TIME
“The transnational corporation is a nationally based company with overseas operations in two or more
countries. One distinctive feature of the transnational corporation (TNC) is that strategic decision making
and the allocation of resources are predicated on economic goals and efficiencies with little regard to
national boundaries. What distinguishes the transnational media corporation (TNMC) from other types
of TNCs is that the principal commodity being sold is information and entertainment.”
What is your TNMC? Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN)
Core Competency? Sports Reporting, Advertising, Journalism, mobile news, Fantasy sports, Sports News,
Live sports broadcasting, online sports resources, print magazines, and other original content.
Brand Identity? Technological Leadership? Online/Print. Superior Research and Development? Online
espn.go.com. Customer service? Online espn.go.com or by phone 1 (888) 549-3776. Interface Design? Apple,
Android, Print, Web, Broadcast. Media Distribution? Streaming, broadcast, online, print, radio.
Key Products? Sports News, Reporting, cable, Magazine, Online, Talk shows, Live sports streaming, original
programming, advertising, journalism, fantasy sports, mobile streaming
Brand Identity? Programming, Services, Events, Business, Products, Networks. Sports with Authority and
Personality.
Investment Strategy? Establish as many contracts with cable networks to show big sporting events. negotiate
with schools to air more than one out of network game a week. After ABC purchased the company in
84 it gave ESPN the identity and capital to go for bigger coverage they had been previously denied.
CEO leadership? Founders: Bill Rasmussen, Ed Eagan, Scott Rasmussen. Current President of ESPN is
John D. Skipper
Cross-media Ownership Strategy? Entertainment, news, original programming, streaming, print, radio,
talk shows, podcasts, direct TV,
Acquisition and merger strategy? Acquisitions-Racing-Live August 5, 2008, Cricinfo June 11, 2007 Vistas
Unlimited. Owned by The Walt Disney Corporation 80% and Hearst Corporation 20%.
Foreign Direct Investment? United States, Australia, Latin America, United Kingdom, Canada
Demassification of Media and TNMC Diversification Outlook? ESPN targets sports enthusiasts and
provides accurate reliable authoritative sports news. ESPN continues to diversify itself with keeping up
with growing and changing sports networks and airing popular sports concurrent with seasons. As well as
updating and releasing media streaming platforms for mobile devices. They also have become the leader
for fantasy sports platforms and news reporting.

Over the past week I have had the great honor and
pleasure to work with and film some of the worlds
best street artists as they converged on Oahu for
POW WOW 2015. Every year the first week of February
Oahu host POW WOW which is a collaboration
of street artist as they come together for a week
of art through Oahus art district (Kaka’ako). The
curators of POW WOW select artist from all over
the world based on their current work and invite
them to the island to do mural style paintings on
predetermined walls around downtown. This year
i was able to spend the entire week downtown with
the artist filming the event getting to know and become
friends with many talented individuals. POW
WOW gives artist a chance and place to display
their art for an entire year. Then next year it will be
painted over again, its not just about painting walls
though its about camaraderie between artists, its
about teaching children the gift of art and showing
others that its OK to follow your passions and that
art is a healthy out let for creativity.
p
o
w
w
o
w

magnum P.I was an American crime Drama, which followed Tom Selleck,
who played Magnum, as he took viewers on his adventures doing private investigative
work around the island of Oahu. The show was usually anything
but what it seemed; just as Magnum was slick, so were the producers Glen A.
Larson and Donald P. Bellisario with their military discourse and subtle hints
at the corruption of the military.
Magnum P.I first aired on December 11,
1980 on CBS (Columbia Broadcasting Station).
The show took over the airtime for the
famous Hawaii Five-O, which was the main
driving force for the producer’s decision to
film in Hawaii. The pilot episode of the show
was titled: “Don’t Eat the Snow in Hawaii”
and was the first episode of the wildly successful
series that lasted 162 episodes over
an eight-year period, which ended in 1988.
Magnum P.I has been famed as one of the
most popular shows of the 80s. Magnum P.I
was produced in the 80s, just five years after
the Vietnam War, which could lend to the
show’s big military presence and the show
depicting the life of veterans after the war.
In 1973, Stuart Hall wrote an essay titled
“Encoding/Decoding Model of Communication,”
in which he speaks about the models
of communication in TV production. He
writes about the production value, which is
the encoding of the message, which draws
from society’s dominant ideologies, beliefs
and values. The producers of Magnum P.I
were able to create the first show to talk
about the highly political war in Vietnam.
Society’s view of the Vietnam War and the
soldiers who fought in it were incredibly
negative; many soldiers, after returning from
the war, were spit on and disgraced. The
producers were able to take society’s views
and beliefs about the veterans of the war and
completely turn them around, portraying
the veterans in a more relatable heroic way
through the adventures of Magnum and his
military brothers around Oahu. The pilot
episode of the series, “Don’t Eat the Snow in
Hawaii,” doesn’t shy away from taboo topics
or calling things as they are. The first episode
is about Magnum trying to vindicate
and bring honor to his deceased military
friend, Dan Cook, who was said to have died
while trying to smuggle cocaine from Japan,
during which time the packets ruptured in
his stomach, killing him. Magnum, however,
knew there was foul play involved.
He knew Cook like a brother and that he
would never have done that. One way the
producers were able to show us the bond
Cook and Magnum had was through their
use of flashbacks to the Vietnam War,
which initiated, each time, with a close-up
of the Navy Cross ring each of them wore.
This ring was not just a prop or a piece of
jewelry; we are able to tell this through the
symbolization of the ring and everything it
represented to the men who fought to wear
it. The ring symbolizes the blood, tears and
sweat they shed to be honored to wear it.
The flashbacks to the war also let the viewer
see what these men went through to get to
where they were at the time, which makes
them more relatable. The show demonstrated
that the Vietnam War was not just a
wasted war effort like so many Americans
believed it to be. Brothers were made there,
lifelong friends that would do anything for
one another and go through any length to
bring honor to a friend’s name like Magnum
set out to do for Dan Cook. The producers
made Magnum the dominant role in the series
and portrayed him as the protector. We
are able to see this from the very beginning
of the episode. The producers were able to
portray Magnum as an authoritative character
thorough various discourses such as constantly
showing him in a positive light, always
shooting close-ups of him, and framing
him in the foreground and center of most
scenes throughout the show. He also spoke
directly into the camera, which gives the
audience the illusion that he talking directly
to us. All these production effects break
the fourth wall and let us relate to and see
Magnum more like one of us, letting us understand
what is going on in his head like we
are part of the team. Magnum is in charge of
security at the compound he lives on of his
friend Robin Masters. Magnum throughout
the show is always looking out for his
friends, watching out for each one of them.

Magnum is the alpha male throughout the show and
is the typical all-American male that all the ladies
wanted and every man wanted to be in the 80s. The
show depicts things popular in the eighties like the
over sexualization of women. This starts just a few
minutes in with the two identical twin sisters that are
staying at the Masters compound for vacation. They
are always shown lusting after Magnum and running
around the compound in bikinis and skinny-dipping
under the moon light. This also shows Magnums
kryptonite, which are beautiful women. He is always
getting caught up with women and getting into trouble.
The producers also subtly tell us Magnum could
have prevented Cook’s death with one of the flashbacks
Magnum has. The flash back is of Cook and
Magnum’s other teammates in a trench trying to call
in for fire support with no avail; then it shows Magnum
come into the scene saying, “Sorry I am late”.
This concludes the flashback, and Magnum says, “I
can’t help but think if I wasn’t late I could have saved
Dan’s life.” This shows Magnum’s tardiness and careless
attitude has finally caught up to him and causes
him to regret that he could have prevented a brother’s
death. The flashbacks Magnum has always seem to be
concurrent of what is going on in the scene and give
the viewer additional insight into the scene and what
is going on in Magnum’s head. The producers also
play on popular things that were going on in the 80s
with this particular episode. In “Don’t Eat the Snow
in Hawaii,” the producers tackle the popular illicit
drug cocaine. Cocaine was highly popular in the 80s
post-disco scene in Hawaii and the producers address
its popularity with this episode.
The kingpin of the cocaine trade in this episode is a
young nineteen year old girl who goes by the name
of “Snow White,” a cleaver cocaine innuendo. It is
surprising that the producers decided to cast this
character as a young woman since in the 80s women
were rarely seen as dominant characters or in
roles of power or authority. It was refreshing to see
that the producers could not only make women an
object of sexual appeal but also give them roles of
power. Another female they portray in a different
light is Alice. She is not only Magnum’s sort-of love
interest, but also the sister of Dan Cook. Alice has a
big role throughout the episode, going around with
Magnum trying to keep him on track and help find
her brother’s killer. Lastly, the producers are able
to frame Magnum and Higgins as if they were to
represent the United States and Britain. Magnum,
in this context, would represent America because
he is the good ol’ American boy who is a care free,
loose viewed, war hero. On the other side of the
pond would be Britain who is played by Higgins, the
retired British Army Sergeant Major with an uptight
regimental view on life. Higgins and Magnum are
always butting heads on their views. Higgins is always
trying to catch Magnum slipping up and trying
to keep him in line. The producers always frame
Higgins in a higher frame always looking up to him
on a balcony or terrace showing that he is a character
of power, the runner of the estate. During one of
Magnum and Higgins’ clashes, after Magnum steals
the Ferrari and gets away, he looks into the camera
and says, “How did I know I would get away from
Higgins? Because fate just wouldn’t let him win.”
This statement encapsulates America’s mentality of
superiority and independence, in which we always
tend to think we are on top.

53
I
126.90
n Episode 1 of the critically acclaimed
television series Breaking Bad, a high school
chemistry teacher named Walter White says to his
class:
“[Y]ou see, technically, chemistry is the study of
matter, but I prefer to see it as the study of change:
Electrons change their energy levels. Molecules
change their bonds. Elements combine and change
into compounds. But that’s all of life, right? It’s the
constant, it’s the cycle. It’s solution, dissolution.
Just over and over and over. It is growth, then decay,
then transformation. It’s fascinating really. It’s
a shame so many of us never take time to consider
its implications.”
This quote is delivered in a literal and straightforward
way: in saying it, Walter White is simply
a high school chemistry teacher doing what high
school chemistry teachers do. However, the quote
aptly sums up the theme of the entire series. Over
the course of five seasons, Walter White, himself,
acts strikingly similar to the electrons, the molecules
and elements he is teaching about. In the
beginning of the series, Walter experiences an
extrinsic crisis in his life, a cancer diagnosis, and
has to adapt. His crisis, along with his general
insecurity and feelings of inadequacy as a man, husband,
and father,
act as a catalyst which triggers his metamorphosis
from a once docile, humble, and soft-spoken man into
a hardened, egomaniacal drug kingpin with no remorse
for the taking and ruining of life. He rationalizes
his actions with the delusion that they all somehow
benefit his family. In 1973, Stuart Hall wrote an essay
titled “Encoding/Decoding Model of Communication”
in which he speaks about the models of communication
in TV production. He writes about the
production value, which is the encoding of the message,
which draws from society’s dominant ideologies,
beliefs, and values. Producer Vince Gilligan is able to
portray Walter White as a relatable man and a subject
of empathy even though he has begun selling meth to
provide for his family. Gilligan is able to draw on the
societal belief that when humans are pushed to an extreme,
they will do extreme things, which they might
not do otherwise, in order to provide for their families.
In Walter’s case, when given a life-ending cancer
prognosis with no feasible way to pay for treatment,
he is forced to take matters into his own hands and
start making money the fastest way possible. In this
way, Gilligan draws on both our dominant, capitalist
ideology and our family-oriented beliefs and values.
79
A196.97
close textual analysis of the television
series Breaking Bad reveals the subtle and complex
ways in which producer Vince Gilligan, along with
the cast and crew, use multiple media literacies in
unprecedentedly intricate ways, such as through color
symbolism as well as recurring objects and scenes, to
demonstrate character development and the metamorphosis
of Walter White into “Bad,” or as creator
Vince Gilligan likes to put it, “You take Mr. Chips
and turn him into Scarface.” To that end, this paper
will first provide a brief overview of three often-used
production elements in the Breaking Bad series;
namely, color symbolism, recurring patterns, and
recurring scenes, each of which relates to character
development; then provide a case study analysis of
the episode “Ozymandias” to demonstrate how each
of these elements, along with others, come together
to establish the overall theme of the series: Walter’s
transformation into Bad, while reproducing dominant
hegemonic structures.
1.a. Color Symbolism
One of the most notable and elaborate production
elements used throughout the series is color
symbolism. The creators of Breaking Bad have found
ways to use one of the most powerful mediums we
have in the modern age, television, to play on humans’
natural ability to pick up on these visual cues.
Since the series began in 2008, colors have been used
to both demonstrate characters’ feelings and foreshadow
things to come. Colors not only act singlehandedly
as visual indications of feelings and moods, but also
work in combination with one another, with opposing
colors seen or worn by characters effectively tying the
whole feeling of a scene together. Creator Vince Gilligan
says about his use of color in the series, “Color is
important on Breaking Bad; we always try to think in
terms of it. We always try to think of the color that a
character is dressed in, in the sense that it represents
on some level their state of mind.” Every color used
in the series has some meaning behind it, but for the
sake of brevity, this paper will take a look at a few of
the most notable colors. These are blue, black, and
green. Blue is almost always used to convey a sense
of purity, escape and security. One way the producers
of the show use this color to signify a sense of purity
is through the color of the famous blue meth Walter
and Jesse cook. This meth is said to be the purest and
best meth ever produced and the choice to make it
blue was no mistake. The color is seen worn mainly by
Skyler (Walter’s wife) and sometimes Marie (his sister
in law) one notable scene with the color in which the
color represents a time when Skyler was unaware of
Walter’s meth cooking was during a flashback to the
beginning of the series in the episode “Ozymandias.”
She is seen wearing a blue top, signifying a time when
the family was pure and untarnished by Walter’s meth
cooking. The family was also at a safe and secure point
in their lives, with a new baby on the way.

One of the other colors which the producers favored,
and which is the exact opposite of blue in
meaning, is black. Black, in this series and in life,
generally signifies death, deception, evil and/or
a sense of power. The producers use this color
to show Walter’s inner evil and thus use Walter’s
black hat as an object of great significance. He
puts on this black hat when he is trying to be
assertive, demonstrate power and put a sense of
fear in whomever he is dealing with. When we
see Walter put this hat on in the series, we automatically
assume he is about to do something
“bad”. Throughout the series, Walter is the main
black-wearing character. In a few instances, we
see Marie wearing black when she goes through a
shoplifting phase. The last color that holds a particular
amount of significance is the color green.
In the series, green usually signifies depression,
envy and a longing or greed for something.
During the first few episodes, Walter is seen
wearing a green apron to cook meth, signifying
his depressive state for which he turned to meth
meth production to provide for his family. In
these particular scenes, green further signifies his
greed and longing for money and better days.
The color symbolization is also seen after Walter
kills Gus in Season 4. There, Walter wears a
bright green shirt immediately after Gus’s death,
signifying Walter’s lust for power. With no boss
to answer to, Walter can finally take his seat at
the top of the food chain.
1.b. Object Repetition
Another distinct production element used to
convey meaning in the series Breaking Bad is
the use of repetition. This repetition takes many
forms throughout the series, but is most often
seen in objects and scenes. Objects are generally
used to tie ongoing plotlines together and to
highlight the extent of Walter’s transformation.
One memorable object that appears and reappears
throughout Season 2 of the series is a pink
teddy bear.
The pink teddy bear is used as a recurring foreshadowing
device, and first appears in a flash-forward scene at the
beginning of the first episode of Season 2, titled “Seven
Thirty-Seven.” The scene depicts an eerie, quiet backyard
pool containing a floating plastic eye, followed by a closeup
of a small teddy bear, missing its eye, with one half of
its face scorched off. The next time the bear appears is
in Episode 4, “Down,” which features the same flash-forward
scene, but this time, a worker in a Hazmat suit
fishes the bear out of the pool and bags it as evidence.
The viewer does not see the bear again until the opening
scene of Episode 10, “Over,” during which the same flash
forward scene shows the bagged bear being placed into a
box, after which the camera pans over two body bags on
Walter’s front lawn. The final episode in which the teddy
bear is shown, “ABQ,” depicts the pink teddy bear falling
from the sky into Walter’s pool as he watches. During this
final episode, the viewer learns that the teddy bear falls
from the sky as a result of a catastrophic plane crash that
occurs over Walter’s house.
Interestingly, when the titles of the four
episodes featuring the teddy bear flash-forward
are put together, they form the words
“Seven Thirty-Seven Down Over ABQ.”
Further, the plane crash is caused by a
distracted air traffic controller mourning the
loss of his daughter, who happens to have
been Jesse’s girlfriend Jane, whom Walter
callously lets die of a drug overdose without
attempting to render aid. In an earlier
episode of Season 2, a pink teddy bear
appears in a mural on Jane’s bedroom wall.
The recurrence of the teddy bear throughout
the season neatly ties the entire story
line together, and provides an unmistakable
connection between Walter, Jane, and
the plane crash victims, elucidating the
vast amount of damage Walter has already
caused and extent to which he has already
begun his transition into Bad by the end of
Season 2.
1.c. Scene Repetition
The repetition of scenes in Breaking Bad is
used chiefly to provide the viewer with a
backdrop to the transformative quality of
the show. One distinct scene that is often
repeated throughout the series is that depicting
Walter, his wife Skyler, and his son
Flynn at the breakfast table. In the beginning
of the show, Walter appears at the
breakfast table as somewhat of an affable,
if not docile, family man. Skyler often lectures
him on various matters in his life at
the breakfast table, where he willingly cedes
much of his agency to her. On his fiftieth
birthday, she arranges his bacon into the
numbers 5-0 on his plate, explaining that
she used veggie bacon this year because he
needs to watch his cholesterol.

Shelley’s sonnet, after which the episode is fittingly named, is about the inevitable decline of all leaders
and the empires they have built with their pretensions to greatness. Vince Gilligan, the creator
of Breaking Bad, has paid an insurmountable amount of attention detail to every aspect of this show
down to the names of each episode. The name of each episode is like a mini piece of a giant puzzle,
all interweaving the series together like the branches of a mango grove. The name of this episode was
nothing short of pure cinematic genius; the episode follows the sonnet as though they were written
about each other:
However, over the course of the Breaking Bad
series, the power dynamics and mood for which
the oft-repeated breakfast table scene provides
a backdrop undergo remarkable changes. By Walter’s
next birthday, he has revealed to Skyler that
he has been cooking methamphetamine, and has
essentially blackmailed her into keeping his secret.
She clearly resents him, and does not make the
letters “5-1” with his bacon (real, this time) until
Flynn, oblivious to the situation, points out that
she forgot to. Visibly angered, Skyler acquiesces as
Walter looks at her with smug satisfaction. By his
fifty-second birthday, Walter eats breakfast alone
and on the run from authorities. He is no longer
in contact with his family and has lost everything.
The viewer sees Walter arrange his own bacon into
the letters “5-2” on his plate, alone and angry,
in stark contrast to the breakfast scene depicted
on his fiftieth birthday. The breakfast scene
repeatedly portrayed in Breaking Bad highlights
the transformation of Walter White and acts as a
control-variable which allows the viewer to witness
Walter’s metamorphosis from a nice but submissive
man to a Bad and manipulative man.
2. “Ozymandias”: A Case Study into Bad
To fully understand the cinematic art that is Breaking
Bad, it is instructive to examine one of the
episodes. This provides a clearer understanding of
how each episode is intricately threaded into the
web-like big picture of the series. After watching
“Ozymandias,” the fourteenth episode in the fifth
season, several times and carefully dissecting the
episode, I will now examine the recurring themes
in this episode and how they play a small but
essential part in tying together the entire series.
The reason I choose this episode as my object of
analysis is the fact that this is the point at which
the entire series has come to a head. Walter has
finally completed his transformation into Bad and
his empire has crumbled into shambles around him.
This episode was one of the most watched episodes
in the series, and also opened the door for
viewer-theories and made the ever-present reoccurring
themes more salient. The title of this episode
is “Ozymandias,” which hearkens a famous sonnet
written by the English romantic poet Percy Bysshe
Shelley
“I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of
stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the
sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose
frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions
read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless
things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart
that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
-Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)

One of the more unique editing styles chosen in this episode
was the decision to not play the cast credits until
after the second set of commercials. For first five seasons,
the cast credits were played immediately after the initial
opening sequence. For this episode, however, in order
to fully grasp the viewer’s attention and to display the
full significance of the events taking place, the producers
waited until after entire sequence of events depicted in
the opening scene was completed to roll the credits. This
allowed for the viewer to take in the poignancy of what
was happening and not have the shots disrupted by names
on the screen. The episode begins with a scene from the
beginning of the series depicting the humble beginnings of
Walter’s empire and, specifically, when Walter and Jesse
headed to the desert for the first time to cook meth.
his sole motive was to pay for his medical
expenses and to provide for his family in
the likely event of his death. As previously
discussed, the directors have a unique
way of going back in time and showing the
viewer the exact same scene to elucidate
the characters’ development, and especially
that of Walter, in the series. Certain
camera techniques are used as indicators
that the show is travelling into the past by
“dissolving out” back to reality at the end
of such scenes. In this particular flashback,
which acts as the opening scene of “Ozymandias,”
Walter is unaware that his empire
is about to take off and has not been
poisoned with the illusions of greatness. He
is shown taking a phone call from his loving
wife Skyler and they speak about naming
their unexpected new daughter Holly. Walter
seems to have it all: a loving family and
a career. The one thing looming over his
head is his cancer diagnosis and how he is
going to afford providing for another child.
After dissolving back into reality,
the episode starts in the present moment
in the exact same place the flash back
ended, only this time, instead of showing
an RV, there is a sport utility vehicle
full of bullet holes and a dead man in the
New Mexico desert. Walter’s police officer
brother-in-law, Hank, is injured and
Walter is cowering in a van looking pitiful
and helpless, but seemingly feeling
no remorse. Jesse is somewhere in the
background, but no one can find him. The
directors’ motive for these scenes is to
show the stark contrast of the transformation
of Walter White. He has created a
meth empire but, in the process, has also
created a monster that is so disconnected
with reality he would do anything, including
sacrifice his family, for money and power.
The producers are able to show how Walter’s
greed is also his demise. After same the people
who helped him rise to the top of his empire
kill his brother-in-law, Hank, and steal all of his
money, they bury Hank in the same pit dug in
the New Mexico desert that Walter fortunes
were once stashed. This is overtly symbolic of
the extent to which Walter’s greed and delusions
of power have finally taken everything he
once loved; the dead bodies of his family now
replace stacks of cash. As he is driving away
from the scene of the murder, Walter looks
into his
rearview
mirror
and can
now no
longer
stand
the
sight of
himself.
This is a
turning
point
in the
series in
which we can see that Walter is unhappy with
himself and the person he has become.
After his car breaks down in the middle of the
desert from a bullet hole in his gas tank, he
takes his barrel of cash out of the trunk and
starts rolling it through the desert. The producers
do not let this scene happen in silence: in
the background, the lyrics of the song playing
while he is rolling his precious money include
“take my true love by the hand, lead her
through the town, say goodbye to everyone,
goodbye to everyone.”
The producers’ use of this song ties together
both the entire scene and the entire series.
Walter’s true love is money. All he has left is a
barrel of money. He can say goodbye to everyone
because either he is slowly killing them
off or they are turning their backs on him. For
this scene, the shooting style the producers
employed was a succession of long shots, each
further from the subject than the last, with the
landscape growing and Walter shrinking. Joshua
Meyrowitz author of “Multiple Media Literacies”
Describes this filming technique as a form of
“media grammar literacy,” which allows the
producers to use the distinct qualities of the
film medium to visually demonstrate something
without actually saying it. In this case, Walter
rolling his money through the desert with a
succession of long shots visually demonstrates
Walter’s symbolic shrinking, or his demise.
Throughout the series, Walter is always placed
in the center of the frame and framed as a
man of power; now we see him shrinking in the
back of the frame.

It represents a shortcut to the upper-class, and, as demonstrated in Breaking Bad, is the only realistic
way to upwardly mobilize for many of those in the lower and middle economic classes. Those who
engage in it in an attempt to move up to the controlling economic class are punished harshly and, in
Walter’s case, lose their family and everything they hold dear. In this sense, the series reinforces liberal
capitalism and class structure in the United States . Walter’s attempt to build a capitalist empire outside
the bounds of the law results in his transformation from good to Bad. In the end, Walter is unrecognizable
even to himself. Nothing he once had remains. Round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless
and bare, the lone and level sands stretch far away.
This allows the viewer to see him as a small, pathetic
man, once again, completing a full circle. As
he is rolling money through desert, in the lower
part of the shot appears a pair of khaki pants that
Walter had lost the first time he cooked meth in
the desert in the first season of the show. This
provides only further symbolism and a backdrop for
the fact that he is completely detached from what
he was before. The metamorphosis is complete.
Another unique shooting style in this episode which
employs Meyrowitz’ “media grammar literacy” is
the way the character Jesse is framed. The camera
never looks down on Jesse, even though he is on
the ground for much of the episode. When he is
on the ground, the viewer is down there with him,
and even sometimes looking up at him, no matter
how pathetic he looks. This is the producers’
attempt to make him a relatable character and a
foil for Walter, as well as provide another symbol
of transformation. In the beginning of the series,
viewers saw Jesse as a low-life junkie drug dealer
who was just in the meth game for money and
drugs. In reality, however, Jesse is the only honest
character throughout the series.
He may have been a flawed person, but he never
denied that, and he was always honest with himself
and others. In the end, viewers sympathize more
with Jesse than with Walter. In this way, Jesse
acts as a foil and backdrop for Walter’s transformation.
Walter’s transformation encapsulates the stark, but
sometimes nuanced, difference between “good”
and “evil,” and demonstrates the dangers of going
too far toward evil for the sake of greed. While
the entire series revolves around the plight of the
working class and Walter’s capitalistic success in
building his empire, the show draws a distinct line
between “good capitalism” and “bad capitalism.”
Walter’s empire is “bad capitalism” because it is
based on selling an illegal product in the United
States, and Walter is punished in the end. In this
way, the series reinforces the hegemonic structures
of both liberal capitalism and class structure
discussed by Todd Gitlin in his essay, “Prime Time
Ideology: The Hegemonic Process in Television
Entertainment.” Bad capitalism is, apparently, that
which is based upon illegality and outside the
bounds of the liberal capitalist structure.

March 25, 2015 at 1:32 PM
Hi molly, have you picked up any new hobbies here in Hawaii?
March 30, 2015 at 5:14 PM
Hey Dyon whats your favorite thing to do on the island?
b
l
o
http://mediacinematicarts.blogspot.com/2015/01/all-about-me.html
April 21, 2015 at 1:08 PM
Hi Miho where is your favorite place you have traveled?
http://mediacinematicarts.blogspot.com/2015/02/introduction.html
http://mediacinematicarts.blogspot.com/2015/02/dyon-buitenkamp-introduction.
html
March 25, 2015 at 1:25 PM
Kaito, where is your favorite spot to surf on Oahu?
http://mediacinematicarts.blogspot.com/2015/02/hajimemashite.html
l
o
g
c
April 21, 2015 at 12:55 PM
Hey Pono what is your favorite kind of dance?
http://mediacinematicarts.blogspot.com/2015/02/heyy-everyone-my-name-isbrandon-but-my.html
April 21, 2015 at 12:52 PM
Hi abi what made you want to become a pharmacist?
http://mediacinematicarts.blogspot.com/2015/02/hi-everyone.html
April 7, 2015 at 8:26 PM
Hi Patrick since moving to the island from Tinian have you picked up an new hobbies?
http://mediacinematicarts.blogspot.com/2015/02/hi-my-name-is-patrick-kwonand-im.html
April 7, 2015 at 8:29 PM
Hi Jack i am also a veteran and love traveling i was stationed in Germany for three
years and traveled all over Europe what is your favorite place you have visited?
g
c
o
April 21, 2015 at 12:48 PM
Hi Kylie that's pretty cool that you got into ice skating on an island. What
inspired you to become an ice skater?
http://mediacinematicarts.blogspot.com/2015/02/hello-class-my-name-is-mitchbut-i-go.html
o
m
m
e
n
http://mediacinematicarts.blogspot.com/2015/02/hi-guys.html
March 25, 2015 at 1:30 PM
Hi Kehau i love the out doors and hiking as well, whats your favorite hike on
the island?
http://mediacinematicarts.blogspot.com/2015/02/hey-everyone-my-name-iskehau.html
March 30, 2015 at 5:10 PM
Hi Jessica, i lived in Europe for three years in Germany and traveled all over
as well what was your favorite part of
Europe or favorite country?
March 25, 2015 at 1:28 PM
Hi jason, i like your photography of the tree very creative use of light chaces.
What do you enjoy photographing the most.
http://mediacinematicarts.blogspot.com/2015/02/hello-everyone_13.html
April 21, 2015 at 1:06 PM
That is an awesome way to earn extra credit.I loved that show as a kid. What
was the grossest thing you had to eat?
http://mediacinematicarts.blogspot.com/2015/04/fear-factor.html
m
m
e
n
t
http://mediacinematicarts.blogspot.com/2015/02/introduction-jessica-nguyen.html
blog
t
s
s

TEAM PRESENTATION
44K
hiff extra credit
sunshine
superman
For my team project I worked with Jorel, Nick, Florian and Kaito. For our
presentation we decided to talk about the new digital resolution 4K and
how it is changing the media world. During this project I was responsible
for setting the deadlines and keep and open line of communication
with the professor. I also set up the power point in Goggle docs so the
team could have access and contribute accordingly. I focused the main
part of my research on how 4K is changing the moving going experience
and how the cinematic world has adapted. Also I addressed some of the
shortcomings of previous high definition projectors in the theaters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ_tzJDRSAM
On April 13, 2015 myself and thirty or so other adrenaline seeking junkies patiently waited for the screening
of Sunshine Superman, which was being showcased at the Hawaii International Film Festivals Spring Showcase
at the Regal Dole Cannery movie theater. This heart racing documentary about the life of Carl Boenish
the father of all things flying and the creator of BASE jumping will have you on the edge of your seat until the
last rip cord is pulled. The documentary showcases the life of Carl Boenish and is a historical account of the
start of BASE jumping as a sport and as law enforcement’s nightmare.The film is mostly comprised of archival
footage, but what it lacks in video quality it makes up for in excitement. The use of archival footage really
lets the audience see what it was like when these brave men and women were pioneering this sport and just
how dangerous it was. If it wasn’t for Boenish and his loyal crew of adrenaline junkies the sport may not have
come to be in existence today. I wont give too much of the storyline away – you are just going to have to take
the jump and go see the film yourself. (http://hpu.hiff.org/2015/04/sunshine-superman/)

SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE
BIBLIOGRAPHY
josh sheetz
hilife15
josh.sheetz15@wordpress.com
Edds, Robin. “21 “Breaking Bad” Easter Eggs That Will Blow Your Mind.” BuzzFeed. N.p., n.d.
Web. 26 Apr. 2015.
Dempsey, Jospeh. “Breaking Bad: 10 Hidden Easter Eggs & References You Probably Missed.” What-
Culturecom Breaking Bad 10 Hidden Easter Eggs References You Probably Missed Comments. Whatculture,
6 Nov. 2013. Web. 26 Apr. 2015.
Hall, Stuart. “Encoding, Decoding 1.” Social Theory: Power and identity in the global era 2 (2010):
569-599. Web. 20 Apr. 2015.
jsheetz@my.hpu.edu
Gilligan, Vince. “Breaking Bad.” Breaking Bad. AMC. Albuquerque, New Mexico, 20 Jan. 2008. Television.
Gitlin, Todd. “Prime Time Ideology: The Hegemonic Process in Television Entertainment.” Social
Problems, 26.3 (Feb. 1979): 251-266. Web. 24 Apr. 2015
Meyrowitz, Joshua. “Multiple Media Literacies.” Journal of Communication 48.1 (1998): 96-108.
Print.
josh.sheetz15@gmail.com
Villapaz, Mike. “’Breaking Bad’ Color Theory: The Subtle Symbolism And Meanings Behind The
Colors In AMC’s Hit Series [PHOTOS].” International Business Times. International Business
Times, 27 Sept. 2013. Web. 26 Apr. 2015.

JOSH SHEETZ
Mult 2060
professor. pete britos
hawaii pacific university
spring 2015