Mirror Work. Do you do it? Do you
know what it is?
If you answered "no" to
either of these questions - you shouldn't be calling yourself
a model. Top models practice daily and Mirror Work is how they
do it.
Athletes, Musicians, Singers, Actors - they ALL practice
to become good at what they do.
So what IS Mirror Work? It is "Muscle
Memory"
If you have ever played organized
sports - your coaches talked to you about "muscle memory." I'll
give you an example - in the sport of Baseball, players take
batting practice before every game. Before each at bat - the
player stands in the On Deck Circle and swings the bat over and
over again. All of this practice is for the purpose of training
the body and its muscles how to swing the bat.
Think about it - when a ball player is standing at
home plate with someone throwing a ball at them at more than 90
miles per hour - they don't want to be thinking about how to swing
the bat - they need to think about where the ball is and where
it is going.
This same principle applies to a piano player or a
guitar player - they practice and practice the chords and locations
of keys and strings, because when they are playing they need to
concentrate on the tempo and music.
Models need to do mirror work for TWO reasons
The first and most obvious is posing.
A smart model learns quickly that nobody has a perfect body. You
must learn your best as well as your worst features and more importantly
how to make them work for the camera. It is important to learn
the basic bikini pose and more importantly understand why it makes
the body look so good.
Every model should have an arsenal of at least 10 poses
that they can do well and have the confidence of knowing that their
body looks great in these poses.
Your goal while practicing in
the mirror is not just to find attractive poses - but to concentrate
on "how does
your body feel" when you are doing a pose correctly. Remember
that when you are in front of the camera, you don't have a mirror
in front of you to look at.
The second and most important reason for doing
mirror work is facial expressions. Modeling is acting
and your face is your MOST important communication tool.
First and foremost a model must learn how to smile.
It is natural for people to tend to squint their eyes or show too
much gum when smiling.
Mirror work allows you to learn
how your face "feels" when
you smile correctly. It also allows you to learn how your face
feels when you do a big look of surprise or anger or the classic
open mouth smile.
The purpose for all of this
practice is just like that of the athletes and musicians - so
that these skills become second nature. When you get in front
of acamera if you have to think for just one second, "Does my smile look ok?", "Does
this pose make my butt look big?" then you have blown the
shot. When you are in front of the camera you have to be thinking
about the character you are portraying and the personality that
is needed to sell that idea.
A few quick pointers for successful mirror work:
- Do it alone - nobody else in the room, radio and TV turned
off.
- No more than 5 minutes at a time. Good mirror work takes lots
of concentration. If you stay at it too long - you will start
looking at the pile of wash that you see behind you or the books
on your desk that are waiting to be read. (Feel free to do mirror
work several times a day if your schedule permits - but still
only for 5 minutes at a time.
- Only work on one pose or expression in each session. Remember
- anybody can look in the mirror and do a perfect smile in 2
seconds - your purpose is to learn how that smile feels. Keep
your sessions short and focused.
- When working on poses - be sure to do your mirror work in the
nude from time to time. There is no better way to see how your
body looks when posing then when you are naked. Additionally
- it is a great way to learn how to pose your hands. With no
clothes on - you have no place to put your hands. (I challenge
you to come up with poses that DON'T include placing your hands
on your hips!)
- Be critical but constructive. Nobody
has a perfect body or perfect face. Don't watch yourself in
the mirror thinking that you are "all that" and don't look in the mirror and
totally tear yourself apart. Learn what your strengths and weaknesses
are and in the words of Tyra Banks, "Work it girl!"
