For my Video Essay I decided to focus on a specific theme that has been shown throughout all of the seasons thus far. The theme institutional dysfunction is one that is shown through many of the characters. From McNulty to the Mayor and even in the Barksdale Organization this theme is portrayed numerous times. I focused on the police department and the mayor for the scenes I wanted to show. Basically, the department is dysfunctional. Numerous guys go behind each others back and black mail each other to get what they want. They are all extremely selfish and only care about themselves and not about others.

I used scenes from Season 3 episode 11 and 12 and also from Season 4 Episode 5 (I know it is a little ahead of what we were suppose to watch but I found a scene that I wanted to use). I could not find the exact scenes on youtube so I downloaded them from the UMW Media Hub. Using Windows Live Movie maker I cut the scenes I wanted. I decided to take a different approach to the video essay. I did not want to talk over the scene while it was playing because I felt that it was distracting while I was listening to the speaker. So what I did is I talked on a still picture and then played the scene and then discussed the scene after it played. Not that this is the right way or not to do it I just felt this was best for my essay. I used audacity to record my thoughts and then inserted them in with the video clips to get my final product.