"Thirty-Eight Snub" was written by
George Mastras and directed by
Michelle MacLaren. Filmed in February 2011, the episode was edited by Kelley Dixon, one of a handful of editors who have regularly worked on the series. The direction in "Thirty-Eight Snub" included several camera angles from unusual viewpoints, including the perspective of Jesse's Roomba, boxes of pizza, a baby's vision and inside a car wash. The filming in
Albuquerque, New Mexico was delayed by snow storms and record-low temperatures which resulted in a
state of emergency being declared. Stan is not a professional actor but rather a physicist, and he was teaching at the
University of Chicago when "Thirty-Eight Snub" was filmed. "Thirty-Eight Snub" also featured the first appearance by Ray Campbell as Tyrus Kitt, an employee of Gus who has replaced
Victor, who was killed in the episode "
Box Cutter". made a guest appearance in "Thirty-Eight Snub" as black market gun vendor Lawson. Jim Beaver made an appearance on "Thirty-Eight Snub" as Lawson, the gun vendor from the opening scene. Beaver previously starred in the
HBO western drama series
Deadwood along with
Breaking Bad star Anna Gunn. He also previously appeared in "
Field Trip", a
sixth season episode of
The X-Files which was written by
Breaking Bad creator
Vince Gilligan. While Gilligan believed Beaver to be a talented actor, he had never met him during the filming of either show.
The CW television series
Supernatural, in which Beaver co-stars, was filming at the same time as "Thirty-Eight Snub", so Beaver flew into
Albuquerque for the
Breaking Bad shoot and had only half a day to film the scenes. Mastras said he particularly enjoyed that the character tries to convince Walter to buy a gun legally because, "I like the aspect that you've got this black market dealer who in an ironic way is the sound of morality here." The motel room that Cranston and Beaver appear in was a set constructed by
Breaking Bad production designer Mark Freeborn and construction coordinator William Gilpin. Director Michelle MacLaren wanted a genuine "rundown motel feel", but believed it would be too difficult to film in an actual motel room because it would be too small for the cast and crew to fit inside. Instead, the set was designed so that several of the walls could be removed to make space for the cameras and crew. This allowed greater flexibility in shooting and camera angles, and the walls could be placed back into position if they were needed for the background of a shot. The first shot of the episode includes Walter speaking directly into the camera, and it quickly revealed he is speaking into a mirror in the motel room. MacLaren filmed the shot so it would be deliberately disorienting and unclear to the viewer where Walter was until the camera movement revealed the motel room.
New York magazine writer Logan Hill interpreted Walter's speaking into the mirror as a symbol for self-reflection: "He stares at a mirror reflection of himself, studying his own image, wondering if the Walt other people see gives any hint of what he’s carrying inside." rented a 180-foot-tall crane to film a
crane shot of
Walter in "Thirty-Eight Snub". The scene when Walter approaches Gus' house with plans to kill him ends with an extremely high
crane shot of Walter standing alone in the middle of the street. MacLaren wanted that shot to be extremely effective because she believed it conveyed Walter's helplessness, insignificance and lack of experience. Although the normal crane used for such overhead shots in
Breaking Bad was only 30 feet tall, MacLaren rented a 180-foot-tall crane specifically for that shot. Since the crew had only about four hours to shoot before losing the night-time hours, the crane shot was the first one they filmed. It was shot by camera operators Andrew Voegeli, with dolly grip David Jaxx Nagro and gaffer Steven Litecky. Later, for the scene when Walter meets with Mike at a bar, MacLaren backlit Walter as he entered so only his silhouette would be visible when he entered. When the shots of Mike punching Walter was originally filmed, the staging involved Mike standing up, then Walter standing up, then Mike suddenly punching him. Vince Gilligan edited the scene to have Mike simply punch Walter instead to make the action faster and more surprising. The scene was arranged by stunt coordinator Al Goto, and actors Bryan Cranston and Jonathan Banks performed the stunts themselves. Mike kicks Walter several times after he falls, and Goto placed a large sandbag against Cranston's torso for Banks to kick during those scenes. The party scenes at Jesse's house sought to illustrate Jesse's internal guilt and self-hatred for having murdered
Gale Boetticher in the third season finale, "
Full Measure". Gilligan said these scenes were written because he wanted to demonstrate that the actions of the characters in
Breaking Bad have major consequences. The writing staff spent weeks discussing how Jesse would react to having killed Gale and went with the course of events in "Thirty-Eight Snub" in part because they felt it would be the most unexpected for the audience. Bryan Cranston praised these scenes, saying "I thought it was a great way to show a person going through a private hell. That everybody suffers, deals with their own personal loss in many different ways."
Breaking Bad music supervisor Thomas Golubic tried to select music appropriate for both the party and Jesse's state of mind, using variations of
punk rock,
hip hop and
dubstep. During one scene when Jesse, Skinny Pete and Badger are snorting meth together, Badger leans down outside of the shot to take the drugs, then Skinny Pete pops back up in a
match cut. The shot was conceived by MacLaren during filming. Mastras had Jesse buy a Roomba because he believed it was appropriate for Jesse's frame of mind: "You don't need it, it's kind of inane. ... He's just trying to fill his world with noise and with these things." During the final shot of the episode, a
steadicam shot filmed by Andrew Voegeli, Jesse turns his stereo system all the way up and leans directly against the pulsating speaker to try to shut out his pain. MacLaren wanted the speakers to pulse, but they could not actually play loud music without harming actor Aaron Paul. The special effects crew unsuccessfully tried several methods to make the speakers pulse, such as shaking them and pulling on strings, but they did not appear realistic. It was achieved after MacLaren visited a local stereo store and an employee provided her a bass tester which would run the stereo system with no noise, but cause the speakers to pulse as if music was playing. That employee was hired to come on the set and run the system, and the lights and pulsing were timed to match music which was later dubbed in. ==Cultural references==