Not a dogumentary

Here it is - it's not a dogumentary, it's a pop song and vid!
We'd love to know what you think - it's already proving popular with the under fives who demand to see it over and over.
Make yourself a coffee, turn up the volume, and enjoy some unashamed fun!

The song goes live on itunes et al on Monday 3rd November, so we've been waiting until this week to send out the promo packs to radio stations and press.

We're hoping to upload the video to a site that will enable us to sell the vid for a few pennies for mobile phone use, as we're keen to promote and utilise the digital technology to share the message that books are fun.

Even a short time ago we would not have been able to do this, but this is so exciting - book characters are no longer confined to the flat page, but live and play in any of the many places where kids have access. Maybe not every child has access to the internet at home, but they nearly all have mobile phones, heaven help us! In presenting Frog the Dog as a friend and advocate of safe, silly, and exciting fun, we hope to reach a wider audience than the printed word could achieve.

Frogtastic!

Chris Carter of Bluebird Recording Studios and I both need this to go large for us. We work hard at our respective businesses, but we both need the break into mainstream recognition. We believe this song is good enough to do this for us both.

Please, there is plenty you can do to help, and we need your help to get noticed.

It would be be amazing if you could do any or all of these:

Buy the song from itunes, Napster, Rhapsody of Amazon MP3

Watch it, rate it and review it on youtube - www.youtube.com/frogthedog1

Be our friend and spread the word on myspace - www.myspace.com/frogthedogandthebeachhousegang

Watch the vid and leave us an encouraging message - It gets lonely here sometimes!

Send these links to your friends, and tell every child you meet about Frog the Dog or maybe treat them to a book or toy for Christmas - suitable for kids upto 8yrs old for the books and CD's, and any age for the Frog Ted toy - he's very cool :)

Thank you!

I have to go send out press packs, and then cross my fingers that this takes off so that both Chris and I get noticed enough to earn a salary soon!

Back at the blogs

Hey, did you miss us? No??
We simply had to take some time out to work on the new drawings for the Frog Blog Dog Log video, and I find that the only way not to get distracted it to turn the computer right off!
So I had a blissfull week creating some new images, and realised how little time I get to create new work for it's own sake. A piece of art always has to have a purpose, to fit a specific brief, usually to illustrate a story.
I couldnt wait to get started on this tuba playing pic!
The video has been a collaboration with our good chum Chris Carter of Bluebird Recording Studios who wrote the original music for us, and who was keen to develop that into a pop song. I really wanted a video short that would amuse everyone and be a good promo tool, so we set about planning.

Because we have such a strong international following, I thought it would be good fun to have Frog with the most famous London Landmarks, and to have clips of our own dear beach here in Fleetwood; if we can do our bit to promote the tourism in Fleetwood, I would be very happy.

I also wanted a mix of Frog in his various guises, cartoon, plush toy and real dog. So the plan emerged that we would use brief shots of a mix of all these to create an animated effect with stills, but being the creative silly people we are, we couldnt resist a little stop animation with a Frog Ted. No cakes were harmed or eaten during the making of this video!

Having assembled over 80 photos, and a range of cartoons, I then spent a week storyboarding the pics into position, humming the song as I worked to give a rough plan. Then it was into the studio to work on the stop animation, where Chris excelled himself, and there was much giggling as we put it together and saw how it looked. We (Chris) spent quite some time going over and over it to get the synchronisation right, so when we finally finished very late that night, it was very hard indeed to go home and NOT share the results until the next morning!

We really want the song and the vid to be something for the kids to enjoy that they can access themselves through their mobile phones/mp3 players. We know that kids who are too old for the books still enjoy the whole concept and character of Frog and his friends, so like the blog, this song and vid are a new way of being friends with Frog.

So after that brief but exciting burst of creativity it's back to the marketing and selling in the run upto Christmas. Back to arranging signing events and book orders; but it's great fun telling everyone that we have a pop song out and how much fun it is. Stand by your ipod - launch day is 3rd Nov - we're nearly there!
PS: We'd be so appreciative of your support - if you can spare the time to comment, rate or review our vid on youtube, we'd be really gratefull!
Find us at www.youtube.com/frogthedog1

Making the fun happen

One of the very nicest things about doing what I do is the scope for having fun and being silly, which is always a welcome break from being sensible and corporate.

I push myself very hard in the pursuit of professionalism and achievement, and refuse to relent when it comes to the fun side of the business. Sometimes making the fun is hard work!

Frog worked hard at the Brand Licensing show at Olympia, catching some international interest, and on his "day off" went out to shoot some photos for our upcoming promo video to accompany The Frog Blog Dog Log Song, ready for imminent release on Itunes.

Yes, a Frog pop song - how much fun is that??

We wanted some photos of Frog at iconic London sights to use in the video - how hard can it be?

Not as easy as one might first think!

The famous landmarks might seem to be right next to the tube stops - but maps lie! So a great deal of brisk walking was called for.

The Tube was closed in places for maintainance work - more brisk walking, catching buses, and more brisk walking.

Some of us involved in this frantic photo bid are not as fit as some others, and you really wouldn't believe how many stairs there are to access the underground system - its a long way down - and up again! Oh my poor knees....

The photo I most wanted was a shot of Frog with a Guardsman at Buckingham Palace, so when we got there I was very disappointed to discover that the guardsmen now stand well inside the palace grounds, whereas they used to be outside the gates and prone to all kinds of attention from the public. We were flummoxed!




















The technicalities were proving hard - the guardsmen were quite some distance away, the railings got in the way and Frog wouldn't stay focussed. When it started to rain, we decided to move on.

But perhaps the power of positive thinking was with us - as we trudged wearily down Birdcage Walk, passing the Guards Chapel, our tired spirits lifted when we spotted two guardsmen outside the chapel, waiting for a wedding to start.

We decided that the Prince of Wales' motto "Carpe Diem -Seize the Day" was called for, so I despatched Frog Ted with my charming and attractive accomplice to ask the favour.
You can see what a great photo we got at the top of this post.
I could go home happy!

Among the 80 odd photos we took in five hours, and the 40 odd that we intend to use, this one is my favourite, so we want to say a very big thank you to the Guardsmen involved for their willingness to take part. I'm sure they must have had other more important things on their mind! We know how much the iconic sights of London are enjoyed around the world, and really wanted them to be a strong part of our pop video.

So here's to the splendid and long suffering guardsmen, to Frog, and to my cheerful accomplice, who all contributed magnificently to making the fun happen - you are all quite FROGTASTIC!