20th Jun 2005 - Blue Frog Productions meets its perfect match!

The choice of a Zero 88 Fat Frog as the main lighting console for Blue Frog Productions may seem like the obvious choice given their shared name. But as Mike Kofford, the owner of the San Francisco Bay area-based Blue Frog explains, the name of the Fat Frog lighting control console was the least important factor in his original decision to purchase.

Kofford was initially attracted to the Fat Frog by the low price, the short learning curve and the ability to control both automated and conventional lights on a single console. “The Fat Frog has definitely been one of our better investments,” says Kofford. “The console has quickly paid for itself, kept our prices affordable and done everything that we’ve needed it to do.”

Originally started as an event lighting company five years ago, Blue Frog Productions quickly expanded into sound and video to meet their client demands. “We work with professional event and meeting planners and producers who coordinate events from 300-800 people,” says Kofford. “They appreciate the versatility of our lighting arrangements and the unobtrusiveness of lighting equipment. If we can provide more value to our clients with versatile, high performing lighting equipment while keeping costs in line, we certainly want to do so.”

Blue Frog Productions’ lighting inventory includes ETC Source Four ellipsoidal fixtures, Source Four Par fixtures, High End Systems Technobeam moving mirror fixtures, Color Command colour changing fixtures and Leprecon dimmers.
“More and more, we are leaving the par bars behind and working an event with the Color Commands, some movers and a Fat Frog,” remarks Kofford. “The combination allows us tremendous control and creativity over the lighting. Less hardware hanging in the air also appeals to our corporate clients and being able to choose any colour on site and have more of a show appeals to everyone.”

A key feature that Kofford relies on is the ability to adjust fade and chase rates on-the-fly. “This is such an asset for a live music event that hasn’t been rehearsed,” remarks Kofford. “I can program a few scenes and then fade in and out of them at a rate conducive to the tempo at any given moment.” Having manual control over fade and chase rates allows Kofford to program 30 separate looks for an unrehearsed concert. With direct control over the fade rate, Kofford can then smoothly fade into a look during slow ballad scenes but can also snap to that same look later on when the tempo changes. Kofford also makes use of the different attack types as well as the speed controls during a live performance to recycle chases and to better suit them to the show. “All this means,” notes Kofford, “is less programming but still an amount of variety to help keep it looking interesting on stage.”

With each event being on a tight budget and timeline, Kofford was happy to find a thriving online community of fellow Frog console users at Zero 88’s online support forum: www.frogsupport.com. “The Zero 88 website was extremely helpful in learning the tricks on this console,” says Kofford. “Every investment decision is the issue of cost versus benefit. There are consoles that are much more expensive that handle certain functions more smoothly, but for the small- to medium-sized events we service, the Fat Frog covers the work beautifully at a price that our clients can afford, and that’s crucial.”

Photo shows Mike Kofford with his Fat Frog at Cal State East Bay, California.