See for Yourself

How's your self-image? Are you plagued with self-doubt? Do you find yourself paralyzed with prepresentation jitters? Does your insecurity cripple you socially? And cure may not be on your therapist's couch but in front of your camcorder.

Generally we use video recording systems to document events in our lives, but video equipment can also be used to show us something about ourselves and those around us.

Video recording and playback experiences can teach us about how we see ourselves and how others see us. Videomaking can help improve both you and your self-image.

What's a self-image? We all have an idea of how we look, how we're perceived; that's a self-image. But just how accurate is that perception of yourself and your interactions with others? Grab a camcorder and read on to find out.

The Inverse Mirror

When you watch yourself in a TV monitor you're gazing at an unfamiliar image. It's not like looking in a mirror; on TV, you're finally seeing yourself as others see you. you right is their left and your left, their right.

Try this: Set your video camera on a tripod with the monitor in full view. Use natural lighting. Frame yourself with a mid-angle, head and shoulders view. Touch your nose with your finger: you're centered. From here, try to outline the frame of the camera's view as you see it on the monitor.

That happened? Did you find the task trickier than expected? Any confusion's due to the inverse mirror effect. If you've been on stage, you know what we mean. In the theas it's called "stage left" and "stage right."

You and a friend can experiemtn with inverse mirror imaging. Set the camcorder on a tripod and define an area of the room for the camera's view. Set up the monitor so the person in front of the camera can see in that view. That person will try to stay within the frame. You'll try to keep the frame are empty.

You can move the camera horizontally or zoom in and out. The person darting about in front of the camera will notive that movig to the left look in the monitor like moving to the right.

Another way you can see yourself as others see you in by recording yourself-your movements, mannerisms, twitches, tics. Look into the camera and smile. Frown. Laugh. Yell. Cross your legs. Stand up. Lean over. Sit down. Run. Walk. Crawl. Try a variety of poses and facial expression, then play back your results.

Do your feet look bigger than your head? How's your posture? Try sitting up straight with your shoulders back and chun up. Look straight into the camera.

While you won't spend every minute composing yourself into a portrait worthy of painting, with your camera's help you can have a better idea of how you appear to those aroun…