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We'll admit it. This is the least-fun page on our website.
But it might answer some questions
about what we can do.
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What kind of plastic products do you make?
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We have nothing to do with plastic products whatsoever.
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Fantastic Plastic Entertainment is innovative television, film, and radio production.
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We specialize in television commercials, but are great for any kind of high-end broadcast quality
production. We create ideas. We write, direct, shoot, produce, edit, animate — whatever it takes to
bring your television or film project to life.
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We've created television productions for many advertising agencies, production companies, and individual
clients throughout the southeast.
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Our clients range from large advertising agencies who use us to produce award-winning spots for their
clients, to local mom-and-pop businesses that need great but affordable production to help them cut through
the clutter and stand out from the competition.
We have created advertising for a vast variety of clients,
from cosmetic surgeons to car dealers, from hospitals to home builders. You can check out some of our
clients on the Portfolio page, and see some spots there, too. For more, just fill out the short form
on the Contact page, and we'll rush you a copy of our current demo reel.
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How does it work? Do I bring you a script?
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You can, sure. Many agencies we work for do that. But you don't have to.
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Often the advertising we produce is part of a larger campaign that has been carefully mapped out.
In those cases, usually an advertising agency will give us a script, then it becomes our job to bring
it to the screen.
But Fantastic Plastic can also do that tough "idea" part for you, too. Our creative
team can create advertising for you from the "ground up" — developing a concept, writing scripts, then
producing the finished product.
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How much does a commercial cost?
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Seriously, that's a common question. But not one with an easy answer. A production can be as expensive
or inexpensive as you want it to be. Dozens of factors go into determining budgets: talent needs, locations,
editing, special effects — and the list goes on and on.
Some have been much cheaper, and some much more expensive, although most of our spots can be expected to fall in the "few thousand dollars" neighborhood. But at Fantastic Plastic every penny
winds up on the screen, and we spent years learning how to "McGuyver" productions and create things out
of "spit and toothpicks" that look great on camera. Television production is rarely cheap, but we can
honestly say we believe you'll get the best value for your production dollar at Fantastic Plastic. By
far.
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I heard that the television station or cable company will produce a commercial for me practically
for free. Shouldn't I just let them?
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Possibly. But probably not.
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We apologize for the cliche, but "You get what you pay for."
Chances are, you can turn on your
television right now and see a local commercial where the client spent thousands and thousands of dollars
in airtime, but only a hundred bucks on the production for the commercial he's airing. And it shows.
Television stations have two priorities: to broadcast programming, and to sell advertising airtime. Commercial production is never a television station's specialty. And while the overworked production
people on their video "assembly lines" can be very talented, they usually don't have the benefit of the
tools that a production company such as Fantastic Plastic has, or the luxury of enough time to give each
client creative undivided attention as their projects back up.
If your needs are simple, such as store-front
video and a few uncomplicated graphics, then by all means utilize the free resource. But if your project
needs to take a step up — both in production values and creativity — then it's time to go to a production
house. And if you choose Fantastic Plastic, you get high-end production without a budget-breaking price tag.
We honestly feel it is smarter to divert a small portion of your advertising budget into producing a
good spot, rather than spending all of your money on airtime for a bad one.
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There are a lot of production "formats." Which do you use?
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For acquisition, we shoot standard-definition video in the Sony DVcam format, and high-definition video in the HD 1080p format.
We shoot our film productions
on 16mm and 35mm Eastman and Fuji stocks with Cintel Gold Telecine transfers (and DaVinci Renaissance
color correction), so the digital files we edit are taken straight from the camera negative with no generations
in between.
One of our most exciting shooting innovations though is e35mm. It's a hybrid of conventional 35mm film shooting and digital electronics — giving you the beauty of 35mm film without the cost. You can learn more about e35mm here or on the Toys page.
All productions, whether they originate on digital video, film, or e35mm are posted in our
digital non-linear editing suites. We master standard-definition projects to BetacamSP, UmaticSP, or back to digital video
on DVCam, MiniDV, or DVD formats as needed. High-definition projects are mastered to Blu-ray.
You can learn more about the tools we use to edit on the
Studios page, and more about how we acquire the pictures we need on both the Studios and Toys pages.
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So, you can shoot and post in "high-definition"?
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Yup. Including HD video, 35mm film and e35mm.
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High-Definition is the wave of the future, and it's here today at Fantastic Plastic. For commercials, very few television stations will accept spots on HD yet — but it's coming. Other projects, like trade-show presentations, industrial films, even big-screen features can take advantage of high-def technology today. We can shoot high-definition projects on HDV, 35mm film, or our newest innovation e35mm, for real film beauty without the high cost of filmstock.
Most production edit suites can still only accommodate standard-definition video, but in addtion to our two SD suites, we have a full 1080p high-definition suite with one of the most powerful Matrox AXIO high-definition editing systems you'll find anywhere.
You can learn more about our HD shooting tools on the Toys page, and our post-production capabilities on the Studios page.
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I need a whole campaign, not just TV. Can you do that?
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Our Art Director is not only an expert at broadcast production, but print as well — whether it be
for newspapers, magazine, outdoor, or your collateral material.
We can create a seamless campaign
for you, where all your various media has the same look and feel.
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Can you place my advertising for me?
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At Fantastic Plastic we consider ourselves more of a creative agency, rather than an advertising agency...
but we can place your advertising as well.
If you do not already have an agency that you are using,
we will be happy to place the productions that we create for you.
Using an agency for your placement just makes sense... the expertise and connections can
make a world of difference in the effectiveness of your campaign. Plus using an agency never costs you
a dime more than placing the advertising directly yourself.
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Just give us a call. Or an email.
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You can find all our numbers, addresses and such on the Contact page. Or just fill out the on-line
form there. We'll be happy to talk to you and help you with your needs, even if you don't know what
you need yet. There are no dumb questions.
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So, what does the name Fantastic Plastic really mean?
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Well, there really is a logical explanation.
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The name actually comes from a magazine article about Los Angeles from many years ago, titled "Hollywood:
A Plastic, Fantastic Place." We just like the sound of the two words, and think "plastic" really epitomizes
the work of the television and film industry, where so many things that look real are actually quite
phony. The very first project we started under the name Fantastic Plastic was not advertising at all,
but rather a made-for-television movie, hence the "entertainment" in Fantastic Plastic Entertainment,
Inc. We admit the name sometimes causes confusion, but we like it.
We do, however, occasionally get
some very weird phone calls.
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