What? A Paper Notebook

For years I had a notebook on my desk. Now, I spend less time at a desk. My thinking is to have a portable less distracting place for note-taking and journaling. I like smartphones and my tablet. They are great. Notebooks are very different, for this easily distracted, creative mind. Writing by hand with a mechanical pencil in a notebook puts my brain into a different gear.

PS. Well that didn't work. It’s just that I am so much more efficient using modern journal techniques. Speech to text is powerful for on-the-fly note taking. The photo is pretty. The idea was well intentioned. But I am going to stick with the tech while being more cautious about getting sucked into mindless scrolling.

Get Into Character

Let me preface this with saying I am a largely self taught actor. I became passionate about performing as a teen at school. My performances are based on decades in recorded media and voice acting. I received some one-on-one, for camera acting coaching in the eighties and the twenty twenties. There has been lots and lots of critical viewing and listening, a skill developed in my audio/video recording, sound design career. That said this blog is NOT meant as advice. It's just me riffing about what I do to get into character; because writing about my process is an interesting exercise and it cements thoughts about my craft. If I think about a topic intently enough to write about it, I find the process helpful. Do you know what I mean? Let me know in the ‘comments.’

Self Image Pixel 7 pro

Become the Character

At a fundamental level, using performing skills and techniques I have picked up in my life’s work in recorded media; I feel - then I say the dialogue.

Let me explain. When reading a scene I register ‘what does my character feel and want when saying these words.’ When I watch movies, I often empathise with characters. If they're experiencing sadness, I feel it, it is visceral. So as an actor, I take on aspects of what my character is feeling. I take an analytical look at the character. Who are they, what do they want and what makes them feel the way they do in the scene. Why do they want this thing or action. Some of these can be part of the breakdown. I will watch for things on which the writer may want to have emphasis in the character. For an example of this: yesterday, when recording a self tape, I remembered that in my character’s head, I thought about what I was about to say in-character; in-my-head. I was acting subconsciously. It was weird. My character was struggling with making a decision about whether to expose something in a scene's dialogue. I stopped, and I actually think:  “Oo, do I want to do this?” as if wondering to myself. Then my character chose to expose the thing and the dialogue continued. I was feeling the character that I was playing. That's it. The rest of what I see in my self tapes is a result.  To block my scene for the camera. I establish an eye line for my character. Where are the other character's lines of dialogue coming from? …it can get creative. Even with a locked-off tripod there's room to move about a bit in the frame, even in a tiny home audition studio like mine. This allows my actions to further reveal for the camera what the character feels.

I self tape auditions on a Sony α6600 Mirrorless camera using a Sigma Contemporary, 30mm lens. On that is a Tiffen ND .09 filter. Which allows me to record 4k at 30fps, with the aperture at 2.8 this alows for a fairly narrow focus range which makes me seem the focus of the scene as it should. I have a monitor pointed at my scene just above the lens. It makes it easy to block the shot as a solo actor and camera operator. An Aputure brand 120d II is my key light. It has a 36” soft box and with several various over the shoulder light options I can use gels to provide subtle image enhancements if relevant to the scene. For example, the subtle use of blue light to denote nighttime, or an amber glow to denote warmth. Overhead I use a nice Sennheiser hyper-cardiod microphone mounted to a boom, off of a C-Stand and a Zoom H5 audio recorder. I edit on a PC, running Magix Vegas Pro, version 22 (I've been running this app since version 5). …I enjoy the process. 

Side note: I got cold feet and delayed this episode - imposter syndrome is real. I remain humble and I am always learning. If you liked today's post, I really would appreciate you clicking that ‘like’ button below. It will encourage me to write about next month's topic. There's also a way to subscribe to my Changes Blogs, or to share it. You can cut and paste the feed into your aggregator. I'd appreciate anything you feel is appropriate. 

A Day in The Life

I like to clarify when I'm talking to people about being an actor that you should tame your expectations. I'm NOT a famous person and that is not my aspiration. I'm NOT the star of the show in anything I've worked on so far. I'm just a guy that set out in life with an ambition to be in movies and who is finally doing that. In my varied forty six year recorded media career I have loved recording and performing. And I'm just continuing that experience as a sixty something guy. As it turns out for movies, series streaming/television there are roles that suit my type. Would I like to be a regular on a series, or a character actor in a feature film, an animated series or feature? Under the right circumstances with the right people? - absolutely. It's what I work towards. But keeping it real, since becoming a full time actor after the pandemic, I've appeared in ten streaming/TV productions. Five in the last ten months. Twelve total.

I'm posting about things here partly because it's a creative outlet for me and partly as a dig at big name social media. It seems normalised to put oneself out there. I'm just doing it here and linking into it from the social platforms that I remain less and less attached to. It's not a new concept, but rather a new approach for ME. Also the following are not daily activities, rather, think of them as regular practices to help me reach my goals:

So here we go: Some actors, and I was guilty of this in the past when receiving an audition invitation; slip into “oh-oh, that's really messing up my plans for the next twenty four-to thirty six hours.” I understand balancing a full time job or a family. But for me IF I'm gonna call myself a full-time actor, I need to be on call and ready to respond. Now when I receive an audition request, I'm grateful that somebody wants to see what I can do with the role. Then I ask myself, can I embody what this character wants, and reflect that for a camera. Then I research the character if the role is based on a true story. I also have to become pretty comfortable with the audition script and I will form an interpretation of what's needed. This can happen once a week or even a few times in a week. I might be working on two auditions at the same time on occasion. But there also could be weeks with no auditions. In between it means being prepared staying healthy, exercising regularly, and getting enough sleep. I need to be in shape for a twelve hour or longer day on-set if it comes. At my age this requires effort. It means scheduled regular walking, four to six kilometres and reaching for ten thousand steps per day and one hundred and fifty to two hundred minutes of moderate to brisk activity per week, including light repetitive weight training and squats/planks. When not auditioning I maintain my home studio. I'm always on the lookout for tech that'll help me do my job better. I pay attention to lighting and sound recording. I also work to maintain my web presence. I sense that when I am about to be offered a role, it's very likely that productions considering actors are looking at their social media presence. Is it current? Is it tasteful? Does the publisher look like somebody with whom you'd like to work? So I maintain a healthy non-confrontational presence on social media. I try not to devote too much time to it. I stay out of political discussion, why argue with strangers? And in recent months, I've seen the benefit of taking on the attitude that if I have TIME to post on social media, I have TIME to post here to my own Changes Blog. So this will be my priority going forward. I'll be linking socials to content emanating here on this Changes Blog. This change has been a result of tiring of the antics of much of the social media landscape today. I'm wondering if more and more people will do this. Although I enjoy Instagram, for example, and seeing what other actors and friends of mine are doing, I like having a domain that I own. A domain on which I am active going forward. Finally, being a good actor also means watching other performers and learning from other actors. There are plenty of ways to do this. YouTube is a great source but more and more I will be looking to their personal web domains. There's a number of very talented actors or others in the industry with a lot more experience than I with useful content about their work. I'm constantly reading and learning about my craft.

Well, I hope that was helpful or insightful and not too obvious. Watch-out for posts about my Changes Blog.

If you did like, I really would appreciate you hitting that little heart shape below; you’ll be encouraging me to write more.. There's also a way to subscribe to my Changes Blogs, or to share it. I'd appreciate anything you feel is appropriate.

Join me for my next episode: How Do I Get Into Character?

@geoffedwards.bsky.social

A TV Movie I'm In

I played Eddie Mose Father of Tom in the based on a true story television/streaming Movie: The Girl Locked Upstairs: The Tanya Kach Story

Photos: Geoff’s phone by Jordyn and Robert respectively.

Janet Walmsley, Robert Baker, Geoff Edwards

Geoff Edwards, Janet Walmsley, Jordyn Ashley Olson

Axing X

I have continued a presence on X, not for any reason other than that I had built an interesting list of filmmaking, sound design, casting and other creative connections to follow since 2009. But January 20th's dumb, if not intentional fascistic gesture at a presidential inaugural event by it's owner exceeded my tolerance. As I posted and pinned to my profile on the platform just now, it has/will upset so many people that I don't want any of that stink getting on me. Blue skies...

@geoffedwards.bsky.social

New Year, New Update

I am clearly not making this a regular blog. But with the crazy stuff going on at the social media big guys maybe blogs will have a resurgence, we’'ll see. Anyway for now if you require more up to date posts you can find me on a couple of social platforms. The one I am currently paying closest attention to is Bluesky Social. If you wish to follow I am @geoffedwards.bsky.social

Wow! I’m just back from shooting an episode of Upper Class Crimes the Paramout+ Series shooting in Calgary this Winter. it was a wonderful experience. When I first saw the audition for this role, I thought, 'Yikes, this looks intense! Can I even pull this off?' The subject matter was pretty heavy, and the dialogue was long; a real challenge. Plus, we were about to go away for a couple of days.

Right before my wife and I recorded, my good friend who’s a Director came over for one of our semi regular coffees. We were chatting about acting in general and one of the topics was how the best way to play a drunk person is; act like someone desperately trying to hide their drunkenness. I remember, a light bulb went off! I realized I could play my character as someone trying to stay professional and composed despite the disturbing nature of his testimony.

We went away, and when I got back, I watched our audition self tape again with my wife. We both agreed, 'We killed it!' Often that’s the end of it. You know, you made a good self tape now carry on with the next audition. But it wasn't long before my agent Jenny let me know we were pinned for the role!

I'm back home now, it took twelve hours but I recorded about a 15-minute scene, along with twelve very talented guys, an amazing crew, in a brand new (studio seen above), including some familiar faces to viewers (more about it when it’s appropriate). And guess what? I think I killed it again!

Where Can I See Geoff? - Spring 2024 Update

June 2024

If you came to geoffedwards.media to see what shows I might have been in; here's an updated list of recent appearances:

Last summer I got to hang out with the talented and generous Director, Soran Mardookhi. The project was (at the time titled) Bloodlines. It was based on a story of fraud committed by a sperm donor business. I play an employee that figures out what was going on… It was a principle role with enough time with the wonderful cast and crew to really enjoy the experience. I got to work on set with Holly Deveaux, Lyndsey Wong and Jason Cermak. I have yet to see it! It’s called Cradle Of Deception, Conceived In Lies. Summer 2023 had me in two movies of the week. Have You Seen My Son was an opportunity to work with Director, Jim Cliffe and to be a bad guy in his made for TV Thriller and I loved every minute of it. It Stars Sarah Smyth. My character is named Gary Barrat. I appear in scenes with Jonathan Hawley Purvis, Lori Kokotailo with the lovely ShellyLyn Williams playing my spouse.

So far in 2024 I have appeared in three made for TV movies. More about them when they are to be released. Follow me on Twitter/x for more frequent changes and shares.

"Where Can I See Geoff Edwards Acting?"

If you came here to see what shows I might have been in, here's a list of recent appearances, since signing with Jenny Clough: In Listen Out For Love with Stephanie Bennet, Mark Ghanimé and Lynn Whyte I played Barry. It's on the Hallmark channel. I was in Grilling Season, The Curious Caterer, with Nikki Deloach, Andrew W. Walker and Jaycie Dotin which is on StackTV via Amazon Prime. I played a Lawyer named Preston Pittman. I appeared briefly, in a season three episode of the Sci Fi series Upload, on Prime as Vern. There are two made for TV Movies in which I played principle roles this past Summer. I expect they will release in '24. I will update you here. Here’s to a fabulous 2024, thanks for your interest.

Geoff Edwards photo by Alex Harte

Tangible Handmade

I have been involved in the creation of entertainment media for many years. I love it. My hobby is woodworking. I have kept some items that were handmade by me over the years; I like to wander hardware departments and stores that sell wood. Media is all around us but you can’t touch it like you can handmade usable things. Recently, I came across a batch of live edge planed walnut lumber. So I made a small table top to replace one that I built years ago for my studio. It turned out alright! Even if I do say so myself. Then, I made a bridge for my monitors to get them a little higher at my stand-up desk. I didn't like looking down on my video editor time-lines and I was getting a stiff neck. One day I noticed the pile of live-edge walnut was selling off… Fast forward: A purchase was made, there was cutting and sanding, tung oil was applied and voila! And that stiff neck is fading.

Creative Third Thurdays, Interview With Director Bob Fugger

I interview creative people for a YouTube series. I love utilising my on camera hosting and interviewing skills. Please like and subscribe. Here’s the latest, in which I interview a long time friend and film maker: