Frogband Productions

More news on A MIDSUMMER NIGHTMARE-THE BETRAYAL

2011-04-27T20:50:00.000-07:00

A podcast interview, and new crew additions can be found at our Midsummer Nightmare blog.

Check it out.

FIRST LOOK!!!

2011-04-21T13:19:00.000-07:00

Here is your first look at Dedeker Winston as a feyist warrior for A MIDSUMMER NIGHTMARE-THE BETRAYAL. click here. Also don't forget to check out our Indiegogo page to see how you can be a part of this great project.

Onward and Upward!!!

2011-04-14T11:53:00.001-07:00

Midsummer Nightmare - The Betrayal Pitch Video from Steve Everson on Vimeo.

A lot of great things are going on for Frogband Productions. L. Jeffrey Moore (a Frogband filmmaker) is currently producing (in association with Arcadian Entertainment and Steve Everson): A MIDSUMMER NIGHTMARE- THE BETRAYAL. The short film is a dark fantasy/horror film inspired by William Shakespeare's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. We are in the beginning weeks or our fundraising campaign and we are off to a good start. To check out information on how to give check out our indiegogo.com page. You can also take a look at our video above. Check us out and if it's something you know you'd like to see, make your contribution NOW!!! Thanks.

Ubiquity Records and Frogband Unite to produce their latest record collection

2011-02-10T12:42:00.000-08:00

You guys remember those old vinyl 45's right? Well Ubiquity Records has produced a set of 7" records in a limited edition handmade box created by Oakland based company The Key Printing and Binding. To commemorate this set Ubiquity asked Frogband's own L. Jeffrey Moore to produce a short featurette on the making of this box. It was an awesome experience and what made it even more exciting I didn't use my prosumer camera, which is my Canon XH-A1. I used a point and shoot camera with its video feature (canon sd780is). I must say for a consumer camera it certainly did the job. Take a look and see for yourselves.

Making of-Groove Merchant 20 Record Box from jeffmoore on Vimeo.

Production Designer Ipek Kemahlioglu Joins the MIdsummer Nightmare team!

2011-02-01T20:41:00.000-08:00

Ipek Kemahlioglu joins the Midsummer team. Click HERE for more info.

Welcome to the Midsummer Crew Robin!!!

2011-01-20T21:39:00.000-08:00

Robin Roselli (Make-up Artist Extraordinaire) Joins the Midsummer Nightmare crew. Click HERE for more information.

The Frogband Projects

2010-12-21T10:57:00.000-08:00

Frogband Reel

The Experiement
Directed by L. Jefffrey Moore

Borders
Directed by Tyrel Ventura

Agent: XX
Directed by L. Jeffrey Moore

The Last Roast
Directed by L. Jeffrey Moore

"Inoculated" in production in Vacaville

2010-12-09T10:13:00.000-08:00

After a series of meetings through out the Summer and Fall of 2010 the short film "Inoculated" is now in production. The film is helmed by two young directors, Ian Lasater and Jake Newman, with yours truly (L. Jeffrey Moore) as producer and co-creator of the story. The Script was written by Ian and his wife Samantha Lasater. This project follows the classic zombie genre with a great twist at the end and hopefully a deeper look into the human psyche. The pictures that you see are actually video stills from the Canon 5D shot by Cinematographer Tyson Maughan. Make-up SFX by the wonderful and talented Robin Rosselli

Help a Sista out!!!

2010-10-29T13:11:00.001-07:00

Hey guys,
A filmmaker friend of mine is shooting a music video here in the Bay Area and needs people to audition on Monday November 1st. Here's the info:

ASTING - Actor/ Dancers and Choreographer
Looking for dancer / actors for the ‘I Like Girls’ MUSIC VIDEO

Check out http://www.myspace.com/takeovaent for information on the artist
On screen talent - Females over 18 only (Adult themes, NO nudity).

BACKGROUND DANCERS and 2 LEADS are needed.

CHOREOGRAPHER - Male or Female, any age (Choreographer may also be one of our onscreen dancers provided they meet the previous conditions)

Casting will be held the Mon. 11/1/10 in downtown Sacramento at 7pm. Shooting will begin mid November and take place in Sacramento and San Francisco over two weekends.

This is a Non Union production. No pay but copy, credit and meals WILL be provided. The completed video will be submitted to worldstarhiphop.com and iTunes.

For more information please reply with headshots, resume and contact information.
Email for locations and times: jgibbooking@gmail.com

What's up? We're a group of film students combining forces to create a upbeat music video for an upcoming rap/hip hop artist! We're looking for dancers/choreographers and models!! The song is called "I like girls" and the link is as follows for the artist:

http://www.myspace.com/takeovaent

It's a club beat and music anybody can dance to. We are looking for people who are 18 and above for this shoot. This gig is UNPAID however, a copy of the DVD as well as food WILL BE PROVIDED!!!

This video is on it's way to be sent to www.worldstarhiphop.com as well as on iTunes so chances of you getting famous with this video are pretty good!! If you would like to get more information on this video and would like to audition, please reply to us ASAP!!! Thank you very much for your interest and hope to hear from you soon!!!!

Bloodwood Cannibals to Play at BCM's HorrorFest

2010-10-24T12:08:00.000-07:00

Berkeley Community Media's Horror Film Festival is proud to present: "Bloodwood Cannibals" on Sunday October 24th, 2010 at 8pm. This will be BCM's first feature film showing at the annual festival now in it's fourth year. Directed by Joshua Siegel the film has premiered in Chico and San Francisco Ca, and has been playing around the country in Kentucky, Oaklahoma, and Colorado. For more info on the movie click "here". For festival information information go "here"

Bloodwood Cannibals is in the news to make way for Midsummer

2010-09-15T20:50:00.000-07:00

Bloodwood Cannibals is featured on KHSL TV channel 12.
It briefly discusses Joshua Siegel's next film that I am helping to produce called
Midsummer Nightmare. Check it out.

Paradise Horror Film Released

A Midsummer Nightmare: Actress Deneen Melody cast in Shakespeare inspired...

2010-09-07T16:41:00.000-07:00

A Midsummer Nightmare: Actress Deneen Melody cast in Shakespeare inspired...: "Arcadian Entertainment is proud to announce that Deneen Melody will be playing a lead role in the horror film 'A Midsummer Nightmare'. Denee..."

Wow has it been this long?

2010-09-02T23:10:00.001-07:00

God I am slightly embarrassed in posting an entry. But nevertheless here goes. After a lot of hard work and determination it seems as if Frogband will be involved with two features. One hard core drama being shot in Texas and Los Angeles , and one horror film with a zombie short film to boot. "The Wanderers" Produced by Tyrel Ventura and directed by Layton Mathews is about to get underway. While my film that I am producing with Steve Everson and Joshua Siegel is called "A Midsummer Nightmare." The zombie short film is tentively titled "The Dinner Party" and that film is being directed by Ian Lasater and Jake Newman with yours truly producing.

Okay so now that I have something to write about I guess I should keep it going :) Stay tuned.
Lj

Kevin Smith to hold a Q&A at Macworld

2010-02-11T10:07:00.002-08:00

Today Director Kevin Smith will make an appearance at Macworld at 2pm later today. Hopefully if all goes well I should have a recording/review of the event.

Kevin Smith to hold a Q&A at Macworld

2010-02-11T10:07:00.001-08:00

Kevin Smith to hold a Q&A at Macworld\

2010-02-11T10:07:00.000-08:00

Macworld.....MACWORLD!!!

2010-02-02T12:02:00.000-08:00

I'm gearing up to do Macworld Next week and yours truly will talk about the new gadgets for you gorilla filmmakers out there....Staytuned.

Podcast updates and other such things

2009-12-28T07:21:00.000-08:00

The podcasting project is going great. I've done 3 interviews so far and I've gotta say that each person I've talked to was so excited that this was taking place I feel that I am definitely headed in the right direction.

In other news the 2007 HD short film "Borders" featuring Dominique Swain and Former Minnesota Governor and host of Tru TV's "Conspiracy Theory" Jesse Ventura has finally seen the end of it's long post production journey and is now "ready" to be seen by the rest of the world. The short, directed by longtime friend and partner Tyrel Ventura, was received well by friends and colleagues and has been a special side project for Colorado based film company, 42 productions. We owe them our gratitude and appreciation for taking care of us in color correcting, sound sweetening and creating an HD master. THANK YOU 42!!! As a matter of fact all this came about via the Governor's involvement with the production company's film called "Woodshop" (which should be out by now). Anyway via "The Body" and his son/director Tyrel, we graciously took them up on their offer, so I loaded up the hard drive of the entire file and shipped it over. Now all that's left is a screening.

With So many things to do how does one keep it together? A little faith, patience and of course determination. 2010 here we come!

Coming soon...A RedCape/Jammin Productions

2009-12-07T23:02:00.000-08:00

Bad Ass right? More to come but I actually found the time to act again. check RedCape Cinema's site here

Construction Zone

2009-12-01T06:04:00.000-08:00

Construction has started on the Frogband website. Complete with Logo and all. Again Special thanks to Scott Becker (Mac Guru, artist and, all around good guy) who's telecommuting in Mexico for his job (which is in Vermont). Ha! Anyhoo, The goals for this week is to research other websites that have a lot of video and other media on their site. I am learning a lot about designing a website by looking at others sites and I am getting a lot of inspiration. Here are two that come to mind. Behance.com has a clean modern look and placement of their content. The white space is used pretty good content is interesting to look at. I also took a look at the Revision 3 site as I am looking to create a network of micro budget content for visitors to view/download etc. I am using iWeb and after digging deep into the application I have come to realize that this is not just a tool for people who do not know how to design a website. You can actually create some pretty sophisticated designs and themes with a little guidance. Some sites I have visited for tutorials are:
all about iweb
iweb faq

These two sites were really helpful and I highly recommend going to them if you are using iweb. I stumbled across them while I was researching on testing the limits of this underused app on my Mac.

Lastly I am happy to announce the first podcast will be reacorded this friday. I am interviewing Nara Denning who has a series of six vignettes called Neurotique. Check out her site here. These podcasts will be released early in 2010. The podcast line up of more micro budget filmmakers are filling up fast and there's more to come.

The Frogband Studio Store

2009-11-20T06:27:00.001-08:00

Doing a little online holiday shopping but decided to check out what's going on with Frogband? Well you can do both. Frogband now has a studio store tab on the right side of the blog, or you can click here. This is linked through Amazon and a portion of what you buy can help us chug along and make more movies to share with you. For those of you looking to save a few bucks on a computer and are looking to by an Mac but not sure feel free to email your questions to at frogband5.gmail.com. I am an Apple fanatic and if I don't know the answers I can surly find someone who can. Not looking for computer? You can do an amazon search here as well. Anything you look for here will be linked back to this site.

Two Nights only....Black Dynamite

2009-11-17T22:16:00.000-08:00

November 20 – San Francisco, CA
Castro Theatre
429 Castro Street
San Francisco, CA 94114
http://www.castrotheatre.com/

November 21 – Oakland, CA
Grand Lake Theater
3200 Grand Ave
Oakland, CA 94610
http://www.renaissancerialto.com/

An oldie but a goodie

2009-11-12T10:05:00.000-08:00

For those of you who have scene and discussed the latest Battlestar Galactica space opera: The Plan, I found this in one of my bookmarks. I still laugh at it sometimes. Enjoy.

Obama misses Battlestar Galactica

The All New Frogband Blog...Coming soon

2009-10-30T15:26:00.000-07:00

Frogband Productions with yours truly and Tyrel have been active for about 5 years and now with 7 short films and a music video, the phrase: "I am a filmmaker has solidified more and more with each project. With technology the way it is now it can be said that anyone can do this. Yes, anyone with a video camera and a computer can be the next big sensation. The major difference, however, is the person who weilds the camera. That will be the difference between a filmmaker and a hack. The thing that technology has done is make the tools more accessable to the creative masses. Even the number of people who are talented enough to put a few images together may still find it hard to get their passion project seen or even distributed. This I believe will be the new frontier for the shade tree filmmaker in this big bad world.

But I digressed. This conversation is supposed to be about Frogband's future, both as a production company and as a blog, where you the reader/filmmaker will have place to rest your weary head. This has been crazy. With 2 short films a music video and the arrival of my first child, there is nowhere else to go but up. The goals for us will still be the same, and that is to keep pumping out projects that we enjoy to make, regardless of the money. The one thing that I have learned as a producer is that creating is about the process and the resources, not money. If you have the means to beg, borrow and (gasp) steal then you would've beaten the odds.

So as I look towards the end of 2009, 2010 seems promising. We'll have the Frogband line up posted as the year comes to an end, but in the meantime this blog will undergo a few changes. The plan is to create a hub for both local filmmakers, screenwriters, composers, etc, etc here in Berkeley, Ca but also the world. A place to exchange information, communicate/commiserate (depending on how you look at it) comment on each others work and such I believe will make all of us better artists. Importantly it will bring us all together and give us a chance to work together. I (or someone else) will also be reviewing certain products for the Indy filmmaker as well as talking about movies I've watched, the state of independent filmmaking, news from fellow artists and perhaps an online screening or two.

Also to help pay the bills I have sold my virtual soul to capitalism and will be placing an amazon store on the site so you can purchase films, and other shows that we dig and other stuff. Until then: Peace see ya later.

L. Jeffrey Moore

Horror Fest 2009 recap

2009-10-26T06:30:00.002-07:00

This past Sunday I entered the first part of my episodic show: "The Experiment" in the 3rd Annual 2009 BCM Horror Festival. Again seeing local filmmakers do their thing is really what it's all about. We had everything from a Vampire with insomnia to a mocumentory about zombies (who'd a thunk that Zombies are people too). My particular favorite is "It came from Id" directed by Nara Denning. She's the first picture above with me. She reminds me of directors such as Tim Burton and David Lynch. She is actually having a screening at the Make-out room in November. For more info about that check out naradenning.com. The second picture is the host of Horror fest Moby. The next festival is Herofest which will take place in April

Film Distribution....The Final Frontier

2009-10-25T06:52:00.000-07:00

As any filmmaker will tell you the final hurdle after the blood sweat and tears spent on actually making the film is getting it out there for people to see. DISTRIBUTION IS KEY!!! This past week I attended a workshop on distribution held at ATA (Artist Television Access). The panel was made up of local filmmakers AND local distributers. Who were they you ask? Well S.F. Cinematheque, as well as Microcinema International, Wholphin DVD magazine, and Canyon Cinema. The workshop was informative and also served as a "film distribution state of address" . Now for those who are interested in getting your film screened at a local venue ATA is a place to consider as they give you a cut of the admission price. (40 percent to be exact) click here for more info. I would also recommend getting in touch with your local distributor. These guys/ and gals were approachable and very friendly.

Horror Fest 2009

2009-10-22T07:59:00.000-07:00

I am happy to announce that the first episode of "The Experiment" will be shown again This Saturday at 9pm check out the information below.

THE BCM HORROR FILM FESTIVAL is a special one night Filmmakers Networking Event benefiting Berkeley's BETV-CH28 featuring low-budget short horror films made by Bay Area movie makers.
FEATURED FILMS SCREENING ON SATURDAY
"DIONAEA" by Oliver Ferrasci
"HELP WANTED-TRAILER " by Waylon Bacon
"NEXT DOOR " by Chia-Li Hung
"UNDEAD IN AMERICA " by Moby Theobald
"THE EXPERIMENT " by L. Jeffrey Moore
"IT CAME FROM ID " by Nara Denning
"INSOMNIA" by Eve Edelson
"CHRONICLES OF THE ORDER - TRAILER " by Ron Santiano
(Subject to change)

SILICON 2009 Pt2

2009-10-07T06:48:00.000-07:00

So the cool thing about going to this convention is that I have never been to one much less talked on a panel on how the subject of low budget filmmaking. It was a wonderful experience being on a panel with your peers talking about something that you love to do. Next up is BCM's Horror fest. See you there.

SILICON 2009

2009-10-02T23:45:00.000-07:00

So Tyrel and I have been invited to take part in a panel discussion about micro-budget filmmaking. Cant wait to talk about when I return tomorrow night. For more information check out the link:
http://www.siliconventions.com/

Bloodwood coming soon in Fall 2009

2009-05-28T20:31:00.000-07:00

My good friend and fellow filmmaker has made the great leap into his first feature film with "Bloodwood". This HD feature was shot with the help of (ahem) my Canon XH-A1 camera and a lot of great talent up in Northern California. Check out the trailer below. For More info just go to www.bloodwoodmovie.com

Bloodwood movie trailer 1 from Arcadian Entertainment on Vimeo.

Frogband Demo Reel #1

2009-05-27T21:59:00.000-07:00

Here is a demo reel from Frogband Productions. We are working on a second reel and will post soon.

Herofest 2009 directors panel

2009-05-27T21:44:00.000-07:00

Herofest took place on May 9th 2009. Myself and the other directors had a chance to speak to the audience about how they made their films and other things.

Herofest 2009

2009-05-09T15:55:00.000-07:00

So I'm about to go see my latest short that I directed called: The Experiment (more on that later) and what can I say I'm pretty geeked out that few Bay area folk are gonna check out the next Frogband Flick. More later.

Four Score and.....

2008-11-05T15:22:00.000-08:00

Well people of the world, we can all breath again, and be grateful that hard work and optimism has beaten fear and greed. But now is not the time to rest on our laurels. We have been given a do over and we can't f*#k it up this time. It's been a long time that I would call myself an American, or proud American for that that matter, but as I think back a few years when I saw our new president speaking at the 2004 DNC convention I knew I had to keep my eye on him. As a 36 year old black man growing up in this country I am one generation removed from the years of segregation. I remember my mother sitting me down to tell me of a time when she couldn't drink from any water fountain or when she had to sit in the balcony of a movie theatre for entertainment because of the color of her skin. I remember my parents putting in front of the television so that i could see Roots and they talked to me afterwards to explain how my ancestors were brought here as slaves and what that means today . From looking back to this I turn my head to look forward to some of the children that I have come across from teaching and I am realizing that they are now 2 to 3 generations from the sting of blatant racism and we must tell all of our young ones of a time when little johnny's best friend Tyrone couldn't come over because he was black so that they can appreciate the freedoms that we all share now. I say this to make mention that all of us are now in this together. Things are coming to past and unless we want our chickens to come home to roost (if i may pull a Malcolm X here) we cannot make a liar out President Obama. It is our responsibility to take it to the streets when it comes to health care, the economy, our natural resources and taking care of our planet. If we want our new leader to get some work done then we have to meet him half way. we have to control the big companies with our hard earned money and we want things to change if they want our business. we must invest in our smaller businesses and give them our patronage and keep our money on main street. We can do this America. Let's take our country back.

BCM Summer Shorts film fest to screen Agent:XX

2008-07-10T23:11:00.000-07:00

Hey,
Agent: XX was invited to the BCM film festival. This is very cool because the first time it was screened in front of an audience, it wasn't finished and I had a tight deadline to follow as it was created for the 24hr film festival sponsored by Diesel. So for those of you in the Berkeley, CA area I hope to see you there. For more info follow the link below.

http://torridproductions.com/betv/summer-home.html

Frogband Productions presents: Agent: XX

2008-05-15T12:29:00.001-07:00

Agent: XX was a really exciting collaboration between Arcadian Entertainment, and Frogband Productions. This short was entered into the San Francisco filmrace for 2008. Even though we didn't get into the top five or six on the filmracing website. I was able to put the finishing touches to what I believe to be a fun and light hearted project. I also found a great film composer in Mr. Javier Kadry. To hear more of his work click here http://www.javierkadry.com/home

Starring: Megan Soto, Lily Balsen, Loren Simpelo, Jocelyn Truitt
Directed,Executive Produced and Edited by: L. Jeffrey Moore
Written by: Joshua Siegel

Agent: XX - The best video clips are right here

It's been a long time...

2008-04-21T18:17:00.000-07:00

Alright Folks,
Shooting a film, performing some Shakespeare and other life events are no excuse for not updating the blog. As it stands now Frogband has been in post production on "Borders" a film directed by Tyrel and produced by myself along with the help of many friends and family members finished production in early December. We are currently putting the finishing touches on the final cut as well as recording original music for the project. This project will be a first for us as this is the first time we have had to deal with the Screen Actors Guild as our short stars Jesse Ventura, Dominique Swain and Nate Maher. The process was mostly harmless but it really boils down to having a great union representative and patience. We had a great time shooting and both Ty and myself are proud of what we have accomplished. This weekend yours truly will be directing a project for the San Francisco Film Race. The competition will take place April 25-26 where filmmakers will write direct and edit a 4 min short in a 24hr period. Fellow friend and filmmaker to Frogband productions, Joshua Siegel will write the as of yet untitled short. Okay that's all I got...Later. Up Next, my David Lynch binge
Lj

Independence Day.

2007-12-20T14:37:00.000-08:00

Here I present my latest lashing of thoughts into letters, letters to words, and words to sentences. In the words of a great friend of mine "restaurant season" is upon us here in LA. Time to bring on all the gushing, the crocodile tearing, and the "fuck I didn't win!" expressioning. I will admit this year I am totally invested. Ever since that rat fuck piece of film school hackery "Crash" liberal guilted it's way into a best picture win I voluntarily tuned out except for rare breaches to see if my man Harry Dean would get some love for "Big Love". This season however I am pulling for a great friend to win a few for his behind the camera work. Not for his ego or the accolades but for the hope that any nomination or win will get him more leverage to continue his work behind rather than in front of the camera. Shit! I can feel the sidetracking begin time to get back to the main rub of the post, after perusing the various nominees for the Independent Spirit Awards I've come to the conclusion that I was under a dubious spell. I always assumed it was the award ceremony for the best and brightest of independent films. An award show I've always enjoyed. However some nominees in the various categories were perplexing. They didn't really scream indie film making to me. I chomped down on my cigarette holder in anger and started to pound away at the keyboard in fury. You can't call "Juno" an indie film it was made for 25 million bucks(at least that's what Wikipedia says)! "A Mighty Heart" was produced by Paramount Pictures or I'm sorry their small totally ignored splinter cell Paramount Vantage! "I'm Not There" was distributed by The Weinstein Company and produced by Killer films who have almost forty films to there credit, many of them high profile "independent" films. I'm not taking anything away from the artists and producers who made these fantastic films, but the powers or money behind a lot of them really don't scream independent to me. Then the name of this award giving entity jumped out at me. Independent SPIRIT Awards. These awards are for films made in the "spirit" of independent films. That realization sparked another. That there really is no proper definition of what is an independent film. A massive argument took hold of my brain. What should the definition of an independent film be? A film made outside of the studio system? Well if that's the definition then the recent Star Wars prequels fit that bill. Well those can't be considered independent movies they were made with too much money. But by that reasoning you can't count "Juno" as an indie film because they spent 25 million on the making of that film. That's a lot of money for a film that is essentially nothing more than people in various rooms talking to each other especially with the advent of digital film making. (On a side note what I mean about the "people in a room talking" line is that if you strip away the fantastic story, performances, and direction on a purely physical production level it's people in rooms talking to each other which in the world of film production is generally easy to shoot.) But in the defense of Juno's indie cred we all know one of the big five would never green light a film with a truly original female centric story. The mind continues it's whirling Disney's Alice In Wonderland Tea Cup ride. All the arguments regarding the definitions of what makes an indie film an indie film is really a snake eating it's tale because every side of the argument leads into the other. Unless you simply strip it all away and call an independent film a movie that is made for very little money, with relatively no stars in front of or behind the camera(that means you Van Sant), a production company made of relative newcomers, and no means or conections to big distribution and big publicity. I realized then that thankfully the Independent Spirit Awards have an award for just that kind of independence in the "John Cassavetes Award". An award given to a feature made for under 500,000 thousand. Well at least those nominees are true, at least in my mind that is, to what an independent film should be. Sadly my insanity was only quelled for a short time as questions started to rise out of the mists again. Who needs awards any way? But then what would happen to restaurant season? Where would all the industry types go on a Wednesday night in January? Would the star fucking stop fucking? Would the fucking stars stop starring? Would Damon and Affleck finally admit to the perjury of "Good Will Hunting"? Would Speilberg and Lucas finally admit to their pig fuck on intelligent film making? Would Paris stop Hiltoning? Would Von Trier stop art fucking? Would Gallo finally bathe? Would Akiva delete his Final Draft program? Would Fox come out of the closet? What about John? Would Halle give Bassett her Oscar back? Would liberal Hollywood stop believing that liberal lawmakers are really against the war? Would Ratner go back to his roots where he belongs? Would sequaling and remaking finally dry up and blow away? Would teenagers stop dictating content? Would the strike end? Would the unions end? Would the studios end? Just too many goddamn questions. Fuck it, I'm going back to not caring.

Mahalo,

T

It's been a long time coming, but persistence pays off

2007-12-20T10:34:00.000-08:00

As I'm sitting here at my computer listening to the new Becky Schlegel cd that my wife got, it dawned on me that it's been awhile since my last entry. Especially since I promised an entry about my favorite topic superheros. Ya know I'd like to say that since it's highly possible that we might just have a Black presidential candidate in the months to come that we should take this time to focus on our American myths and that is...the graphic novel. As a kid this is all I could ever think about as I sat on my swing set with my latest issue of Superboy or Flash Gordon (enter ahh ahhh here) on my big Buddha belly and daydreamed that I could be those people leading heroic lives. Not once would I ever think that because of the color of my skin would I never be able to do all of those things. Fast forward a few years to when milestone comics made their debut and offering something new to the market place it was refreshing to see heroes that looked like me. Even during the death of Superman when Steel came about was I like wow this is cool. So as I look back at all of these things I have come to this conclusion: as an American it is vital that we keep our myths and legends alive. It gives us our strength, hope and something to gage ourselves as we tackle everyday obstacles. It is even more important that an American of color, who has been bombarded with images that does not look like him or her, have something just as important and great to look up to in order to have that same feeling of being the next great hero. Just a thought.

What the Fu*!....is that...? Okay Jeff what ever you do.....don't geek out!!

2007-11-20T17:53:00.001-08:00

Ya know sometimes the fates shine on you and you get a brief moment in time that let's you know that you are not alone in this big bad wonderful world of entertainment. just 40 min. ago I was walking towards my bike on 4th street in Berkeley and I ran into the man that has re-invented science fiction; Mr. Ronald D. Moore. It was a very brief 5 maybe 10 seconds, but all in all I just gave him dap on the show (Battlestar Galactica for those of you who don't know) and wished him well. But to make this blog entry worth writing I will share the subtext of my greeting to him:

Jeff: (trying not to freak out) "Mr. Moore (my last name is Moore)
I love your show (whimper whimper) I made a video for your contest (whimper, whimper)
I listened to all your podcasts (sniff sniff) I just wanted to let you know that I think you're great...
I love you man!!

add a few more sniffling remarks and I think you will get the picture :)

But seriously, folks as an actor/filmmaker I have seen each season at least twice listened to each podcast and studied this show on how it is able to tell a story without giving too much exposition and not falling into a lot of traps that some shows fall into. And that is one of the reasons why I admire the cast and crew.

Anyhoo. Ron if you come across this site, I wish you well and I hope you, as well as all of your fellow writers out there, come up with a swift and fair solution to bring an end to this strike. We can't wait to see the ending of such a great series. Peace.

Flash!!!! Ahhh Ahhhh Worst show on television. Pt 2

2007-10-27T14:58:00.000-07:00

And now the much anticipated well worth the wait second part of my rant about the worst science fiction show on the sci-fi channel to date. Flash Gordon basic elements that make a good story. One is basically caring for the characters. none of them are really developed enough for anyone to care about them and secondly aren't developed enough to really be interesting. I mean what's a hawkman without wings? I am curious to know the numbers on how many people are watching this but I would imagine that it's pretty low (even with the battlestar galactica mini episodes stuffed in between). I could go on and on but the list is long and my wife and I are planning to see "The Darjeeling Limited" so I must conclude by saying don't cheat an audience by cutting corners and over-modernizing something. Part of what makes Flash Gordon a good story in this case is the villian and the other supporting characters and the environment that they all live in, and none of that is prevelent in this version. please put this show out of its misery and cancel it.

Next up: A discussion on bringing superheros of color into the mainstream.

Funding the Frogband Projects

2007-10-12T13:17:00.002-07:00

That's right folks what better way to help fund two filmmakers than to come to our blog and select one of our recommendations for your dvd collection. Of course each click you make gives us a percentage of what amazon makes and we in turn are able to make our latest projects. Thanks for your support!
Lj

Battlestar Galactica: Confessions

2007-10-07T21:57:00.000-07:00

This is a fan film created for a contest for the sci-fi channel's hit show Battlestar Galactica. Now that the contest is over Frogband productions is proud to present the story of a cylon determined to rid the universe of the human race one person at a time. This story is loosly based on the novel: "The Confessions of Nat Turner." NOTE it is best to have seen season 3 of the show because there are a lot of refrences that pertain to the season's story line.

Starring: L. Jeffrey Moore and Tyrel Ventura
Directed Produced and edited by L. Jeffrey Moore
with Special thanks to Scott Becker

Fixed

2007-10-07T19:49:00.000-07:00

After breaking up with her ex-freeloader boyfriend Troy, Jill decides to take matters into her own hands after he comes back into her life.

Starring: Tiffany Walker, Brian Burns
Directed By Tyrel Ventura
Written by: Brian Burns
Produced and Edited by L. Jeffrey Moore

Safari vs Firefox

2007-10-07T19:34:00.001-07:00

Okay Boys and Girls I just discovered why I was not able to put video content on the Frogband Blog. Since I am a Mac I generally use Safari and I was having a difficult time trying to figure out why I was not able to load video on our website. basically blogspot doesn't like safari or safari doesn't like blogspot techno babble, techno babble etc etc. So I switched to Firefox and whaddaya know.... it works. So without further adieu I present to you the Frogband line-up on our blog....ta daaaaaaa.
Lj

ps I know I still owe you guys a part 2 about flash gordon.....hey a brotha's gotta work ya know.

Flash!!!! Ahhh Ahhhh Worst show on television. Pt 1

2007-09-06T09:31:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid there were a handful of movies that have sent me on the road to becoming a filmmaker/actor. Superman, the Star Wars trilogy and the little sleeper movie Flash Gordon circa 1980. When the Sci-fi channel announced that they were revamping flash gordon, I was excited. and then.....my seventh sense (able to sense a bad show or movie) kicked in and I tried to fight it. then I started to see pictures on the set and then when I saw who they chose to play Ming the Merciless (and yes he is the merciless) I ignored my seventh sense. No disrespect to the actor playing (hey any work is good work) but dammit where's Max Von Sydow? Even then I said to myself just wait until it plays and give it shot. So I set my dvr to record it and then i watched it.... This show is ultimatly the worst science fiction show I have ever stomached. I'll write more later as I am packing in preperation to drive down to LA but I promise to give a detailed reason as to my displeasure.

Lj

Untitled Documentary....a slow process

2007-09-01T18:48:00.000-07:00

As some of you may know I am working on a documentary about the urgent need for young African Americans to know more about their culture and the story of Owen Sound Canada and the descendants of run away slaves who have settled there (for those of you who don't know this town is the northern most point of the underground railroad). I have just logged about 10 hours of footage and I am certain that I am not done interviewing in the least. The hardest part is just to sit down and start sifting through everything. I have to tell you though for a few days I have been taken back about the amount of work that is laying ahead of me. It's a bit daunting. But as the African proverb says: "how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time." So today I have started to look at the first tape shot by Kelly at her old apartment (picture above). She is the catalyst that has started me on this journey. For the longest time I have been struggling as to what I am going to talk about. I mean I am not the first Black person to tackle this subject and I know I am not going to be the last. But what I hope to gain personally is to give another prospective to our country's biggest problem, and that is learning to live together as Americans and to help redifine the African American dream. And that ladies and gents is the question I am posing to myself, being a person of colour and to other people of the African diaspora.

Lj

The Camanche Cry For Self Expression

2007-09-01T00:04:00.000-07:00

Where have we gone and what are we coming to? Even down here south of the border the stench of unoriginality comes crossing over like stagnant elephant dung on a white carpet. Maybe the observations and testaments forth coming are without merit or research so please educate and point this poor slob in the right internet direction so that my dictations are unfounded and made without merit. I'd rather be proven wrong than right on this score ladies and gentlemen. Here we live in a world of oppression, chaos, and warlike tendencies complete with a touch of boredom and a cherry of apathy that sits atop this sundae of inadequacy. A world of intelligent creation of means has given a canvass for storytellers like no other time before us and yet no one is acting on it beyond the chuckle inducing images of human stupidity and or the icy taste of viral marketing. In my scans of this vast menu of downloading and streaming of one and zeros all the storytelling I've come across are lonely girl fifteens and JJ Abrahms giant gila monsters of viral marketing. The Sixties and Vietnam brought us the golden age of cinema. Here we sit with the world burning, soldiers dying, and politicians proving that the Watergate job was small time dime store political hackery compared to the full on rape of the political processes their pulling off today. And yet we can't get beyond the "America's Funniest Home Videos" version of storytelling. Are there any kids out there creating something from the heart? We have the technology, we have the forum, yet we do nothing. All we do is bitch, myself included, but alas I'm not technology savvy like some of you kids are. I come from the first generation to grow up with computers. Some of my generation have the know how, most of us are still teaching ourselves how to use this great tool of communication. But I can't believe that those wonderful creative types younger than myself have no sense of self expression or the need to tell a story. Or are they too busy dressing their Myspace page and playing Halo 3 to take the time to grab a DV camera and a few friends and relieve the pain in their lives by creating something personal to them. It would appear with all the video sharing websites out there that we have the means to distribute without focus groups telling us what is right and what is not. Yes it's true we don't have the ability to make money creating these stories yet, but is that really the reason holding us back? Have we become so dependent on financial gain that we have given up creation for creations sake? Maybe the future titans of self expression are out there on this web of mediocrity but the gods of media do not promote them and the size of this internet beast prevents us from seeing their work. Maybe that last strange thought is the real vortex bitch of the issue. However it's been proven through history that if the expression is heartfelt and from a place of truth it will find an audience. And is that not the ultimate goal of expression? To find others stranded in life rafts sharing this vast ocean with you? So with guilt and sadness I write this next line. Maybe no one is out there trying to tell the truth and if they are then the souls touched by them are not doing their part to share it with the rest of us. If that is the case, than the audience that has found a piece of pure honest heartfelt storytelling on this net of insane means and meaningful insanity have violently dropped the ball in sharing it with the rest of us or are so egotistical that they'd rather keep it to themselves. Like I said prove me wrong in what I write. Give hope to a tall skinny kid on a writing tangent fed by cigarettes and moonlite waves.

T.

Confessions

2007-08-31T11:12:00.000-07:00

The Fan film seen by hundreds of fellow Battlestar Galactica fans, "Confessions" can now be seen on google video. I entered this piece for a contest presented by the Sci-fi channel. It didn't win but we got some pretty good reviews for those who have followed the show since the beggining. The short was shot with my new Canon xh-a1 in Hi Definition, so of course as soon as i can get the hi-def version of the piece you can view that as well. Enjoy the link is below please cut and paste it to another browser window or just google it.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7687139982860117429

The History of Filmmaking Frogs

2007-08-30T10:53:00.000-07:00

Frogband productions hopped to life back in the early nineties. Most drunken historians have now narrowed it down to some time around 1991 or '92 when a tall skinny boy around the age of ten was finishing his third epic masterpiece of backyard underground filmmaking. The boy knew he needed a production company. Not that he knew what the hell a production company was but they always were referenced in the opening credits and now that he had graduated to actually putting opening titles on his films by god he needed a production company. His eyes feverishly scanned his fathers office looking for inspiration or just some ten year old cool. Then sitting on a Philippine sub-woofer they stared back at him. Frozen in time, forever locked in the middle of a wild thumping chorus sat The Frogs. Brought state side back in the early seventies this stuffed frog rock band was just the inspiration needed. Hence forth from that sunny summer afternoon Frogband Productions was born. Don't ask me for the metaphoric artistic responsibility six instrument playing stuffed frogs stand for, just know that somewhere out there the frogs are watching over the film and they will always keep things weirdly honest and honestly weird.

T.

Check out our stuff

2007-08-30T10:11:00.000-07:00

Okay boys and girls,
As I am trying to figure out how to post our actual videos to our site I think the next big thing would be give you links to where our projects are actually working. Our very first collaberation together "Saturday Night" can be found on the metacafe.com website and you can view our second piece, "Fixed" at revver.com see links below. just copy and paste the url to a new window. Enjoy and feel free to comment on them.
Lj

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/708693/saturday_night/
http://one.revver.com/watch/378793

May God help us all...

2007-08-29T21:24:00.000-07:00

L. Jeffrey is turning me loose onto the virtual hemisphere of blogdom? Ladies and gentleman Pandora has now opened her box and is on a serious Ether binge.

T.

Welcome

2007-08-29T20:53:00.001-07:00

Welcome to the Frogband Production blog. Here you will see our latest projects, read our comments on films, life and other rants but most importantly you will be kept up to date on what's going on with the Mr. Tyrel Ventura and Mr. L. Jeffrey Moore of Frogband Productions. The production company is the brain child of Tyrel and I came into the picture a few years ago. Stay tuned more will be added in the days to come.