https://franklycurious.com/wp/2017/01/30/under-the-skin/
Cinematography
Mise en scene
Performance
Editing
Sound
Gender
Notes
Representation
In the opening sequence of ‘Moon’, Sam an adult male is shown as the labour worker for Lunar Industries, the film then goes on to represent women as a kind of prize/reward for the man while he does all the hard work. In the opening of ‘Under The Skin’ the man (the motorcyclist) is shown as emotionless and focused. He captures the woman (or alien?) without any sense of caring, this contrasts to the woman who cries which is showing emotion. The alien, Laura, is also shown to be emotionless. She drops the woman head on the ground and pays for attention to the ant when the audience is concerned for the paralysed woman.
Narrative Structure
In the opening equilibrium of ‘Moon’ the audience learns allot about Lunar Industries and why Sam is working on the moon for them. It also sets up binary oppositions such as the west and east and ideologies like capitalism in the infomercial montage. It sets up the rest of the movie as well as showing the audience that Lunar Industries are corrupt and cannot be trusted which helps the rest of the movie to work. On the other hand, the messages that the opening equilibrium in ‘Under The Skin’ gives the audience are more subtle than those in ‘Moon’, and when it’s the first time watching the audience will probably be left confused. The jarring changes of shot length and lighting from low key to high key set the tone for the rest of the movie and make the audience feel like an outsider just like Laura, the alien, does. With close up images it shows an eye being made, and the sound of what sounds like Laura learning to speak with phonics suggests the process of Laura becoming her human form. Unlike the ending of ‘Moon’ the ending in ‘Under The Skin’ is different to the beginning as Laura has become more human and has empathy which contrasts to her at the start. However, in both equilibrium’s she doesn’t understand humans and still cannot entirely be one.
Visually, these two images look similar:
Moon – Opening
Under The Skin – Opening
The exploded projection from ‘Under The Skin’ has a planetary feel but can be interpreted as an eye being made. Similarly, the animated sequence in the opening of ‘Moon’ is of space and in some ways looks similar to the exploded projection in ‘Under The Skin’. Both tell the audience information as the exploded projection gives the idea that Laura is other worldly and the animated sequence shows the corruptness of Lunar Industries when they only represent West America.
Most of the opening is jarring, possibly to make the audience feel like an outsider just like Laura and to make us question what’s happening.
Mise en Scene
Cinematography
Performance
Editing
Sound
Representation
Gender
Ethnicity
Narrative
Ideology
Note
Moon
1 (a). Examine how one example of editing creates meaning in the film you have studied.
[10 marks]
(15 minutes)
In the opening of ‘Moon’ directed by Duncan Jones editing is used to set up the narrative and the ideologies of the film. The film opens with a montage sequence that is an infomercial for the people in the film. The infomercial is for Lunar Industries. During this montage sequence the audience is shown lots of archive footage of how the environment needs help, for example, there are long shots of factories causing pollution. Lunar Industries uses this infomercial to present themselves as environmentalists, they want and are helping the environment by using resources on the moon which the audience is shown with an animated sequence of space and the moon during the infomercial. They use contrasting mise en scene, one image is of people ignoring the problems the world is having on the beach while factories are behind them which sets up the binary opposition of humans and machine but they contrast this mise en scene with shots of things like greening deserts which aesthetically makes the audience feel happy especially after previous negative images to try and present themselves as a good company with good intentions. This initial representation of them as a company means the audience likes them as the film was made in 2009 and so environmental problems would have been very real in the audiences on lives and seeing their problems being fixed by Lunar Industries would probably make the audience like them.
However, the opening montage sequence isn’t all good, and by the end of it the audience would know that Lunar Industries cannot be trusted. Although their logo suggests reference to modernism, that there is a simple and logical answer to everything, because of the symbolism of using the moon and the block colours, this turns out to not be the case. Most audience members know that they are actually just replacing one finite resource with another, suggesting that Lunar Industries aren’t environmentalists at all. Plus, the next montage sequence is of adult male Sam who is running on a treadmill which is a metaphor for him not going anywhere, he is stuck with Lunar Industries. This has links to capitalism and how it doesn’t benefit everyone such as it’s workers, Sam is used as a labourer his entire life with the intention of being killed straight after and works in a dirty environment that contrasts to the pristine and white environment that we were originally shown. Meaning that a Marxist criticism of capitalism is probably being explored as Sam is suffering because of capitalism. Using a man as the labourer has links to the films representation of gender, the film mainly consists of men, the women are seen as prizes for Sam to return home to while Sam does all of the work.
1 (b). Examine how one example of mise en scene creates meaning in the film you have studied.
[10 marks]
(17 minutes)
In the opening sequence of Duncan Jones’ ‘Moon’ the opening sequence is the only saturated and colourful part of the film. The montage infomercial tries to present Lunar Industries in a good way, one way that the reality of Lunar Industries contrasts with its representation of itself in this sequence is the change of saturation and colour. Instead of being colourful which has the connotations of happiness the space station is desaturated and monochrome colours which aesthetically makes the reader feel sadder and also helps set up the narrative of Lunar Industries not being a morally correct company, especially since the space station itself is dirty, as well as Sam’s space suit. Sam, an adult male, has even written the four Apostles names on parts of the space equipment/stations. This shows the audience that Lunar Industries are not as good as they try and seem as they don’t give their workers very nice working conditions which has links to capitalism and how it doesn’t benefit everyone. It also shows the audience that Lunar Industries are untrustworthy, which helps set up the rest of the film where Lunar Industries is discovered to use and exploit clones.
Lunar Industries is also shown as corrupt during the animated sequence of the montage infomercial. The voice over makes it clear to the audience that the company can only help 70 percent of the world, they show this as West America on the globe as that’s the part of the world that is lit up. This starts the binary opposition of the West and the East and makes the company seem corrupt as they are only helping a specific area of the globe after showing lots of archive footage which suggested they would help a lot more people than West America, the mise en scene during the infomercial showed everything form people ignoring the problem at the beach to long shots of the factories causing the pollution to children sorting through rubbish. The audience may now feel that Lunar Industries isn’t going to help these children, meaning that the representation of age could be that Lunar Industries used children just to cause empathy and therefore be a liked company who is viewed to have good intentions despite not actually having them.
Although at times the film was incredibly slow, it was actually quite interesting. My interpretation of the film was that it explored what makes us human. The film started with Scarlett Johansson’s character coming to earth and learning how to speak (or at least that’s what I thought was happening). She then had many conversations with different people in which the audience could tell she wasn’t a good communicator because she wasn’t human. During the earlier conversations, she would ask too many questions or even repeat what she had already asked them. Then she started killing people and I thought that ironically the more people she killed, the more human she became. The scene where the two men are trapped in water shows one man deflating as though everything “under the skin” had gone. To me I interpreted that as her becoming more human as though she was “taking” what was inside of them, but I could be very wrong. I also thought she became more human the more she killed because the more people she killed, the better at conversations she became. She never was great at it, but she was slightly better. I think she kept becoming more and more human until the point of empathy, which is why she didn’t kill the man with the disfigured face because she was now human. The moment she looked in the mirror showed her turning point and recognition of becoming more human. I think the film’s message was that empathy makes us human. Her not killing this man contrasted to her watching people drown at the beginning, showing how she now has empathy and questions what is morally correct making her human. I think the film included scenes of her attempting and failing “human” things like having sex and eating cake to show that that’s not what makes us human but caring for others is.
I liked the links between Scarlett’s character and the woman at the beginning, it showed how Scarlett had become human. When Scarlett was lying on the bed while her clothes were being taken off, it reminded me a lot of the scene where she took the clothes off the kidnapped woman. Plus, when she is out of her human skin at the end and holding her face which is still blinking, it reminded me of the close up of the woman’s face when she was crying. I also thought the TV programme was a reference to the beginning with the voice over of Scarlett’s character doing phonics and learning how to speak, that felt important in that moment because she was on her journey of becoming someone new again.
Although the plot could be very confusing with the lack of dialogue and narration, I thought the entire film was from the aliens point of view and that things like the overwhelming flashing lights in the club and the painful motif sound throughout was there to explain what was happening and also in some instances how she felt in place of narration. Although narration would have been incredibly helpful and maybe even appreciated, I think it would taken away from what the film is as it consistently defies logic but in beautiful ways such as, when she sleeps her body can be seen in the trees, emphasising that in that moment she was in peace which was a nice break from all the stress and killing. The entire film being mainly ambiguous was one of its main features and adding narration would have taken that away.
Narrative
In the ending of ‘Moon’ the narrative structure reaches the closing equilibrium but remains similar to the equilibrium at the beginning of the movie. When the second Sam we meet leaves and goes to earth, the audience hears voice over’s of the people on earth calling Sam an ‘illegal immigrant’ and a ‘wacko’, and saying that they should ‘lock him up’. This suggests to the audience that the earth at the end of the movie is much like the earth at the beginning of the movie, that the earth still has problems because the people have not changed. Humans are still not being treated equally, Sam 2 is not being listened to meaning that Lunar Industries will continue to rise and grow, causing more clones to be made and forced to do manual labour. This has links to the ideology of capitalism and the idea that I does not benefit everyone such as it’s workers (the Sam’s). This idea is also brought up in the beginning of the movie when we learn from the montage infomercial for Lunar Industries that their idea of saving the planet and 70% of the population is West America, creating the binary opposition of the East and West and plants the seed of doubt in the audiences mind that Lunar Industries aren’t as good as they say that they are.
During the ending the narrative device of having the same actor play all of the Sam’s to create the narrative repetition that the Sam’s go through. We see Sam 3 waking up just like the other Sam’s did, and as an active audience we know that if Sam 2 hadn’t messed with the communication lines, Sam 3 would have met the same fate as the others. This has links to determinism which is a philosophical theory that the film goes against by the end of the film. It is the idea that free will is an illusion and that if we were to start our lives again, we would end up in the exact same place. Throughout the movie, this seems to be true as both the Sam’s behave the same and appear to be meeting the same fate until the end when all three Sam’s meet very different fates. This difference in fates between the characters is shown through the narrative device of parallel action. We see Sam 2 escaping at the same time as Sam 3 waking up. This makes us care for Sam 3 as well and reminds us that he is still human and deserves to be saved, especially since the voice over countdown which acts as narrative device like a ticking bomb is heard when the audience see’s him on table, suggesting he matters too. This parallel action allows us to see the different fates that all three of the Sam’s reached.
Throughout the film a part of the narrative is the questioning of Gertie’s humanity, and whether he is just a programmed machine or if he has feelings. Sam 2 appears to believe that Gertie has a kind of humanity within him, the audience knows this due to his performance when Sam 2 takes the ‘kick me’ post it note off of Gertie. We are also shown other signs of Gertie having a sort of humanity. Sam 1 draws faces on the wall earlier on in the film, the faces he drew look very similar to Gertie’s face pictures that he has on a screen, suggesting a humanness to Gertie’s emotions. However, the other side to this is that the director was suggesting the clones have machine like emotions and aren’t human but considering the rest of the film this is less likely. The humanity of the Sam’s is also a part of the narrative as they question it throughout the movie such as with the saving of Sam 3 as Sam 2 feels that it’s important to do so.
Ideology
In the middle sequence of ‘Moon’ the two Sam’s argue over whether or not the company has a secret room full of clones. This means that their different attitudes towards this are explored. The most obvious ideology being explored is Capitalism as the movie criticises it heavily throughout the movie. Sam 2’s dialogue reveals that he believes the company is making clones, and that he and Sam 1 are clones themselves; the narrative device of the being played by the same actor helps to get this idea across to the audience. Lunar Industries using clones to do manual labour and then killing them instead of training new people and being nice to them shows how the company is not following good morals in order to save money, this is a way that a negative attitude towards capitalism is explored in the film. This attitude towards capitalism starts right at the opening equilibrium and still exists by the closing equilibrium.
Nihilism is also explored as the Sam’s have very different reactions to the knowledge that they could be/are clones. Sam 2 appears to believe that it doesn’t matter and maybe even that life is meaningless, we know this because of his performance. The audience can see him watching Tv, specifically Mary Tyler More, as a way of ignoring his problems. This creates the idea of media being used to make the workers passive. To contrast, Sam 2 explores and tries to find the secret room. The many jump cuts of Sam 2 always in the centre of the shot make the audience feel tense, uncomfortable and claustrophobic which highlight the bad way that the Sam’s are being treated due to it being a capitalist company.
Marxism is also explored in the middle sequence of the movie. Not only are the workers not benefiting from working there which supports the Marxist idea that capitalism doesn’t help everyone, but the audience learns that the Sam’s are being held back in many different ways such as artistically. The model that the Sam’s have all being working on is a clever piece/prop of mise en scene as not only does it represent all of the clones, and work as a narrative device as knowing that Sam 1 doesn’t remember starting it proves Sam’s 2 theory, but it also acts as a way of showing the audience how the Sam’s could have been artistic in another life as making the model is what he does for fun, Lunar Industries is holding him back. Plus, the model looks like a homey town which could be a reflection of where the Sam’s would have wanted to live or maybe even where the original Sam did live.
Aesthetics
The general feel of the movie tends to be negative. Such as, is in the middle sequence tension is built by the Sam’s performances of the fighting which involved gruesome mise en scene with blood. This makes the audience feel grossed out and stressed due to the sight of the blood and they know the Sam’s need to work together not fight. Plus, during this scene there are many jump cuts of Sam 2 exploring trying to find the secret room where he is always in the centre of the screen whether it is a mid-shot or long shot which makes the audience feel tension and stressed. These are all negative emotions which happens a lot during the film. Discovering that there are clones in the recognition of disequilibrium makes the audience feel as though life is meaningless as the Sam’s could just be replicated. Especially since their performances seemed to be the same, for example, they were both scene exercising and during the physical fight scene they both fought in similar ways; this has links to nihilism and that life is meaningless which is explored throughout the film. The middle sequence also has references and inspirations from 2001: A Space Odyssey, the chair that Sam 1 sits in while watching TV is like the one form 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The music throughout the movie also makes the audience feel tension and possibly even fear. During the middle sequence when Sam 2 is searching there is diegetic beeping noises and the non-diegetic music of the minor piano playing comes back which makes the audience feel negative emotions like fear, tension and stress. The emotional attachment to the characters emphasises these emotions. The minor piano is first heard in the opening sequence. After the montage infomercial where the binary opposition of the East and west and human and machine is made, the happy advert music with major piano playing turns into the minor piano which makes the audience doubt Lunar Industries and means the audience questions their intentions throughout the movie, and maybe that the binary oppositions which they claim to be helping is actually false and instead it’s the opposite; this has links to capitalism and how it does not help everyone, Lunar Industries claim to help everyone but instead only help 70% of the planet which they represent as West America through mise en scene during the animate sequence which creates the binary opposition of the east and west.
Representation
The representation of age in the opening of moon could link to the untrustworthy elements of the Lunar Industries company. The film opens with an infomercial which is made from a montage of news images and an animated sequence. Within this infomercial during the news images montage which is part of mise en scene we see children. One example of this is when we see children sorting through rubbish. This not only sets up the binary opposition of those who have and those who have not (compared to those on the beach) but could be interpreted in different ways. One way is that Lunar Industries help everyone, especially children such as the ones shown. This mise en scene matched with the happy piano music (major) makes Lunar Industries look and sound amazing. However, the other interpretation is that the representation of age in the opening is to show the manipulative side to the company. We know from the animated sequence and mise en scene that 70% of the worlds population to Lunar Industries mainly means west America which sets up the binary opposition of the west and the east; this also links to the representation of ethnicity. This makes the audience doubt Lunar Industries and think of them as corrupt. This means that Lunar Industries only showed children as a means to emotionally manipulate the public into thinking they were making a good difference.
The representation of gender in the movie presents men as the hard-labour workers and the women as goals for the men to return to. In the opening the audience meets Sam Bell who is a middle aged man who works for Lunar Industries on the moon. The audience learns that Sam Bell is not treated well by the company due to the mise en scene of his outfits and where he works which is dirty. We also get the idea that he is lonely due to the blue lighting in the vehicle he enters as blue has the connotation of coldness and isolation. This has links to the ideology of capitalism and how not everyone benefits such as the workers (Sam Bell). To contrast, the women unlike the men who are presented as hard workers for a big company are shown as a prize for the men (Sam) throughout the film. Sam’s wife is who is who he is working towards and doesn’t have a notable story arc herself. The daughter of Sam is very similar.
Context
The opening of the film ‘Moon’ introduces the ideology of environmentalism. Lunar Industries is presented as an environmentalist company. The film opens with a montage sequence which is an infomercial for the people in the film for Lunar Industries. It is made up of pictures and videos from the news as well as an animated sequence. The videos from the news’s mise en scene show the audience how Lunar Industries present themselves as an environmentalist company. The images shown present the problems that there is with electricity and energy such as factories causing pollution and people ignoring the pollution and factory problem on the beach (binary opposition of human vs technology) and children sorting through rubbish (representation of age). Then, Lunar Industries contrasts these negative images with beautiful scenery’s. This change in mise en scene is Lunar Industries presenting themselves as a good company who wants to and is helping the environment. This links to the audiences real lives, they too are facing environmental problems with things like global warming, so they exploration of environmental problems is relevant in there lives and could cause them to become more emotionally involved as they can relate. This could also cause them to be more sceptical of the company Lunar Industries, as a solution has not been found in real life they might doubt that the company has, especially since there’s a change from a positive major music to a minor one and the fact that Lunar Industries come off as corrupt with their representation of then 70% of the world they can help as West America which also adds to the audience questioning them as a good company even if the infomercial tries to present themselves that way by using voice overs as well as positive images to contrast negative ones, ‘energy was a dirty word’.
The film links to other films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey. Both Moon and 2001: A Space Odyssey are set in space and question the humanity in machines. In 2001: A Space Odyssey, the robot is Hal and is evil with the capabilities to hurt the humans so that it can achieve it’s mission, similarly, the way that Gertie acts is also so that he can achieve what he was programmed to do and achieve his mission but it contrast to Hal as achieving his mission means saving and helping the Sam’s. There are also visual links between the films. The mise en scene is similar with the chair in the middle sequence that Sam 1 sits on while watching TV and the mise en scene and cinematography is similar between the films at the end when Sam 2 is escaping. The director would have intentionally made these connections as 2001:A Space Odyssey is a famous film with similar themes.
Cinematography
Mise en scene
Sound
Performance
Editing
Narrative
Ideology
Cinematography
Mise en scene
Editing
Performance
Sound
Gender
Narrative
Ideology
Cinematography
The cinematography in the opening of ‘Moon’ shows the contrast between earth and the space station; setting up the binary opposition of the earth and the moon. The opening infomercial montage sequence is the only colourful and saturated part of the movie, and it contrasts greatly to the monochrome and desaturated space station and moon. This could represent Sam’s isolation on the moon, as the only other thing with him is Gertie, a robot. Aesthetically this might cause the reader to feel uncomfortable, as lack of colour has negative connotations such as the isolation and sadness that Sam is experiencing; you could even say his life is void of colour. Presenting the station immediately in a negative way could show how the film is representing exploiting the moon for energy as wrong, as it’s just replacing one finite source with another and that the humans in the movie haven’t learned their lesson; this has contextual links as the film was released in 2009 meaning that problems with energy sources was well known and a topic that was being explored in real life.
There are also lots of establishing shots to not only contrast the earth with the moon but to set up the film. There are extreme long shots of places on earth such as fields and New York as well as establishing shots of the moon. This shows the lack of colour and isolation on the moon as well. The only coloured lighting used on the moon even has the connotation of isolation, when Sam opens the hatch to go into the vehicle there is blue light inside. This has links to how Sam’s wife isn’t actually video chatting with him and how it’s all a lie but contrasts to when the other Sam clone awakes, and he has company. We have reason to believe that the subject of isolation strongly damages Sam’s mind as often when he hallucinates, he imagines other people, possibly meaning that his need and want for company is showing; such as when he see’s the woman in the yellow dress where the yellow could show his obsession with needing company.
Mise en Scene
The mise en scene uses dramatic contrast in single shots to portray the ideologies and binary oppositions that are explored throughout the film. Such as, the long shot of many people enjoying their day at the beach with the grey factories behind them. This contrast shows the binary opposition of human against machinery but also represents problems at the time the film was published in 2009, how many people ignored the environmental and energy problems that were happening around them; this links to the ideology of environmentalism which the LUNAR company appears to support. This is part of the binary opposition of those who have and those who have not got an easy way of living, the people on the beach contrast with the children in a pile of rubbish; you could suggest that the representation of children in the advert was used by the company just to evoke emotion and therefore positive emotions towards the company as they say they will help. We also learn that the company can only help 70% of the world, and on the globe they present this as West America, instantly showing the company as unable to help everyone and corrupt.
The monochrome space craft against the colourful and saturated earth shows the emptiness and loneliness of being on the moon. This as well as the set design (aesthetically) makes the space craft appear claustrophobic throughout the film as Sam has a very limited amount of quite small spaces to spend time in, possibly making the audience feel uncomfortable and uneasy, making them feel more anxious for Sam to leave.
The mise en scene of the company’s logo links to modernism. The white background and the way that the words are made out of the grey lines which links to them using the moon, suggests a simpleness and logical answer to the environmental problems that the earth is facing and that Lunar Industries will supposedly be able to help. The use of yellow and grey is also part of the binary oppositions the sun and the moon.
Performance
In the opening sequence we immediately learn about narrative, specifically character motivations such as Gertie the robot. At the beginning of the film, Gertie can appear ominous due to monotone voice and his face pictures which come across insincere and a bit creepy; plus the fact that the machinery can be used as the villain in these types of films such as in 2001: A Space Odyssey. However, as the film goes on we learn for definite that Gertie’s only motivation and goal is to help the Sam’s, this is shown in the opening sequence as Gertie is compliant to Sam, ‘Okay Sam’, showing how Gertie will always fulfil his needs. The robot also adds to the theme of isolation, as the robot is the only “alive” thing with Sam, and Gertie doesn’t even have real emotion, only programming. This adds to the theme of human and machinery, suggesting how lonely the earth might be if machinery start to take human roles.
Sam’s activeness contrasts to him at the end of the movie when he is very ill and dying, it sets up the narrative course of Sam’s decent into illness that we see happening on screen. It does however also sets up the similarities to Sam and the other clone Sam, as one of the first things that we see the clone Sam doing is being active. This has links to determinism which is an idea explored in philosophy, which on a basic level considers that if we were to start our life again, we would end up in the same place as free will is an illusion. The opening of the film sets this up as true, as both Sam’s are active which is just one of the ways that they act similar, suggesting a meaninglessness to life as humans have no real choices. However, by the end of the film this idea is contradicted, as the two Sam’s meet very different fates suggesting humans can make their own decisions and have free will, which makes the audience feel happier. This might be the film suggesting that we are capable of change including environmental change as it’s an issue brought up in the opening infomercial montage sequence which promotes environmentalism.
Editing
The editing in the opening sequence establishes the company’s intentions, the state that the world is in, causes moral questioning and sets up the narrative and plot, forming the exposition.
The infomercial is a montage of images from around the globe highlighting the problems that people are having, such as the children going through rubbish and suggesting that the company can help them by using a new energy source from the moon. The images from this montage also show the binary oppositions (ideology and narrative) of those who do have and those who do not have an easy life, but they also possibly suggest that the company will only help West America, as that’s the 70% that they represent on the globe; setting up an untrustworthy relationship between the audience and their ideas about the company and starting the binary opposition of the West and East.
After the first montage there is a graphic animated sequence that shows how their energy resource idea works. This reminds the audience that they are exploiting the moon and that humans haven’t learned as they are just replacing one finite resource with another; the movie may be suggesting that this is what humans are like/will be like in real life as the film was set in 2009, meaning energy problems were known of. This also sets up the plot and narrative of the movie, as we know why Sam is on the moon and what he is working towards.
The graphic match of the Ferris wheel to the sun connotates the company’s idea with happiness, as they take the positiveness of the Ferris wheel and then link it with the sun and their project. As this is an infomercial, it was probably done to convince people that they had good intentions, to the audience however, it might show how they are trying to portray being a good company but isn’t, as the Ferris wheel is near a sign saying ‘Tsunami’ suggesting the disaster that will happen to Sam and possibly their project as we know the moon is a finite resource, putting the audience on edge slightly.
The montage of Sam on the moon after the montage on earth contrasts greatly due to change in saturation and colour. The earth is colourful and saturated, and the moon is monochrome and desaturated. Aesthetically, this sets up the theme of isolation and gives the audience the feeling of how something is going to go wrong, as lack of colour and desaturation is normally negative. This montage also allows us to see how Sam is in a sense trapped and going nowhere, we see him running on a treadmill suggesting he is working towards something but going nowhere; he is a hard worker and getting no benefit.
Sound
The overhead speaker in the opening sequence says things like ‘There was a time when energy was a dirty word’ while showing factories producing pollution and fires. They are comparing the current state of the earth and the trouble that it is in with lovely places such as an open field and greening desert. The audience is left considering how on one hand, the company is promoting environmentalism which is good and on the other hand, to what extent the company is lying making them seem untrustworthy; especially since during the time the film was released, having no energy source problems would seem almost impossible, therefore making the audience feel slightly uneasy as the company is probably hiding something and how they imply that they are only helping West America, setting up the binary opposition of the West an East.
The non-diegetic music during the infomercial montage is news like with arpeggio piano playing and overall seems happy or at least neutral, but when the infomercial is over and the voice over has stopped, and we see the companies logo the music changes to less happy tune with eerie screech/electric long noises (but still piano), these sounds give negative connotations rather than positive suggesting to the audience that the company is untrustworthy, making them feel on edge or possibly more tense. Making the audience feel bad about the company was probably easier than making the audience feel good about the company because in 2009 there were no companies that had a set solution to the energy crisis up and running, suggesting that it wasn’t currently possible and so though company must be hiding something, despite finding a new energy resource being good (environmentalism). Despite this, the change from positive to negative connotations with company made by the sound/music, was not un-expected due to the concerning lack of help going to the East.
Georgia Newman Film Studies 