Appearing on Video or TV
Posted by NovaAngel at December 23rd, 2006
The higher you advance in your career, the more likely your chances for appearing on camera—as panelist on an early morning talk show, as an interviewee on a newscast, as the “endorser” of a company training program, as the spokesperson for corporate policy and procedures regarding your latest merger or acquisition.
If your overall appearance doesn’t command respect, your message will float into never-never land. Good looks and expensive clothing don’t necessarily have to be part of the picture on the screen. But you must look confident, authoritative, and professional. Can you communicate all that simply through appearance? Certainly. What’s your impression of the TV personality PeeWee Herman? A nerd, right? Even before he opens his mouth. Appearance creates much of our total speech impact.
For on-camera speeches, you have to pay special attention to clothing, make-up, and gestures to make sure the real you gets translated on the screen. First, your posture and mannerisms: Most people notice that they have a rather stern look on camera. To lighten up your facial expressions, try to adopt an “amused” expression. That is, lift your eyebrows slightly and keep your gaze and chin turned slightly upward. Sit or stand straight and keep your gestures close to your body, moving your hands between waist and head only. Be careful about sudden movements toward the camera—an outstretched hand or shifting your weight and recrossing your legs. Such gestures look aggressive and even make your hands or arms much larger as they plunge forward. Wide, sweeping gestures and pointing figures are greatly exaggerated on camera and may make you look hysterical rather than authoritative. Remember to keep your palms upward and open to welcome intimacy with the audience rather than crossing your arms defensively across your chest.
Eye contact is what generally throws speakers off-stride. When you are used to the warm feedback and encouraging nods of a live audience and instead face a cold camera, you tend to become mechanical yourself. Instead, force yourself to gaze into the camera as if into a lover’s eyes. Caress the camera with your eyes to show sincerity and warmth.
Or try to visualize the camera as a colleague sitting directly in front of you, nodding or raising an eyebrow at everything you say. For practice, sit in front of a mirror and talk to yourself with gestures and all. See how you look; “feel” your facial expression and the warmth from the mirror. Your subconscious can remember that feeling so that it doesn’t seem so foreign and cold to you in a studio.
Clothing is easier to handle because you can prepare ahead of time without having to account for nervousness and the resulting forgetfulness. Camera lenses have difficulty in balancing certain extreme colors such as black, white, and red. Also, you want to avoid fabric patterns that “move”—stripes, dots, plaids, shimmering prints. Plain colors at the center of the spectrum package you best for the screen.
If you wear glasses, avoid ornate ones that shine and call attention to themselves. Touch the frames with powder to tone down the shine. In fact, avoid any accessory that “stands out”; you want the audience to remember you and your message, not the necktie or necklace you were wearing.
Where make-up is concerned, the idea is to look natural. The days of the necessity for heavy make-up on screen are over. That means that you should avoid bright, shimmering colors in lipsticks, eyeshadows, and blush, which the camera will accentuate and “play with” to your disadvantage. Powder any shines on the forehead, nose, chin. Cover dark circles or shadows under the eyes, which will be even darker on camera.
In general, if you are understated in your own mirror, your coloring will be fine under the bright lights of the camera.
This attention to your movements and gestures, clothing, and make-up will add the polish that enhances your professional appearance and important message.
