Visual Analysis Paper

The official poster for the movie "Step Up" is the piece of work that we carry out its visual analysis in this paper. This poster is appropriate and effectively used to represent the contents of the movie. The most outstanding image in the poster is that of a handsome man and a beautiful woman which covers almost half space of the poster. The man and the woman have their foreheads in contact to each other with the man slightly bending his head downwards whereas the woman's head tilted upwards. The man as seen in the poster is physically strong which is clearly brought out by his masculine right hand. According to the poster, the man appears to be slightly taller than the woman. Also, the woman is seen to have long hair which go down to her back which complements the man's medium sized hair and scattered facial hair. The woman is dressed in with a tight trouser and a scant top in a manner that leaves her waist upwards to close to her chest nude. Moreover, the poster of the giant image places the man and the woman so close to each other with the man touching the neck of the woman who in turn is seen to touch the man slightly above the waistline in such a romantic gesture. The poster shows the upper bodies of both of them which is slightly above their thighs. In addition, the man is seen to be looking at the woman who in turn seems to be overwhelmed by emotions as indicated by her closed eyes. The up close posture clearly shows that they feel each other's breathe.

Furthermore, the poster has an image of a guy in the background of the giant image. The image is of a guy who seems to be dancing and is big enough to cover the background of the image of a man and woman. Below the giant images are images of several individuals who are seen in a dancing mood. The images suggest a large crowd in a dancing mood whereby all the dancing styles are exposed by the different images. The background of the entire poster is a mix of black and blue colors. The phrases "Step Up 3D" and "Take the biggest step of all in 3D" are written on the poster in white and red colors respectively. There are other letters that are not clearly visible.

The giant image of the man and a woman who are close together suggest that the movie has characters in love. The posture of the man and woman in the image indicate that the affair is so deep with romantic involvement. The man holding the neck of a woman is a strong sense of romance which puts the woman at a great pleasure since research has indicated that the neck is usually sexually sensitive. Therefore the outstanding image of the man and woman passes a clear message that the movie has romantic involvement from the onset. When we go further into our analysis, we discuss the background image of a dancing guy behind both the man and the woman. The image suggests a person dancing which clearly depicts that the activity in the movie is dancing. The fact that this image is behind both the man and woman is symbolic to suggest that it is actually dancing that brings the two lovers together. This suggests that dancing ignites love between characters and can be clearly seen in the movie as it just appears on the poster.

In addition, this posture where a man and woman are close and in front of a dancing guy could be taken to mean that the two are actually the main dancing partners in the movie. The woman posture indicates that she is flexible as observed in her slight bend towards the man and closing the gap at the waistline. This depicts that the two partners are dancing together closely in the movie while displaying their characteristic romantic moves. The masculine characteristic of the male counterpart indicate the strength needed for the purposes of dancing which may involve lifting of the woman while displaying different dancing styles. The flexibility of the woman suggests that it is possible for her to move in several styles with the support of the strength of the male counterpart as seen in the poster.

The images of several persons dancing on the bottom of the poster suggest that actually there are several dancers involved in the movie. They are not outstanding in the poster which implies that they are only support characters to the main dancers. The images are seen to be of several characters with different dancing styles ranging from standing, jumping and even others dancing upside down. These images capture the expected styles to be seen in the movie as used by the characters. The fact that they are below the giant image of the two key characters indicate that they are actually under the guidance of two dancers. In addition, the several images suggest that those involved in the dancing are a mixture of both men and women who are vigorous and excited. This indicates that the dancing used in the movie is characterized by quick and vigorous moves accompanied by cheering characters which creates an exciting dancing environment in the movie.

The background colors of black and blue which blend well indicates that the movie is being cast may be at night or at enclosed area with the use of background disco lights. This is a characteristic feature of any dancing event. Furthermore, the phrases written on the poster are very important in giving the name of the movie. It could be difficult to understand the pictures without any words. The name of the movie is conspicuously larger than all other phrases and is designed to catch attention of the observer without any difficulty in reading. Therefore anyone can easily see the images on the poster and connect with the phrase "Step Up 3D" to understand that it's a poster that advertises a dancing in a movie. The second visible phrase is inscribed in red to catch attention of the viewer of the poster. The other phrases which are not visible at a glance suggest that there are more facts about the movie that can only be understood by taking a closer look of the poster. This implies that you actually need to watch the movie so that you can understand hidden features in which all could not be expressed in the poster.

The entire image in the poster is effective in passing the idea of the movie. The movie actually involves a street dancer Tyler Gage who met with Nora Clark at Maryland School of Arts. The two were brought together by dancing when Nora noticed Taylor dancing at the parking area while serving community service at the school. They met at the time when Nora wanted a dancing partner at the time when her partner Andrew had a strain. The two newly found dancers realized that they were a perfect match and began to have feeling for each other both on and off the stage. They become lovers dancing to fame attracting a lot of attention as they lead a group of several dancers. The problem could arise when Andrew returned to good form which leaves Tyler at a choice whether to go back to miserable life or proof that he can stay on through the deciding performance (IMDb.com, Inc., 2010)). This is clearly portrayed in the poster making it effective enough for the purposes of giving a visual impression of the movie. The overall presentation captures across the movie except on the part of Andrew who had a strain. It is not clear on the poster that there was a guy being replaced by Tyler for the purpose of dancing.

In conclusion, this movie poster is directly related to the events occurring in the movie making it an appropriate representation. The physical description matches that of the characters in the movie. The rhetorical analysis of the same shows how different images represent a feature of the movie. Therefore it is a poster which is appropriately and effectively used to represent the movie details. This movie poster can be rated at seven out of ten and has room for further improvements.