I’ve just signed off on the final details of our latest DVD, a companion to our book “Virtuoso: The Tool Cabinet and Workbench of H.O. Studley.”
During our four-year odyssey of documenting the cabinet and workbench, we also shot high-resolution video of the process, including a complete video of us unloading the cabinet.
For the last few months, woodworker and multimedia artist Ben Strano has been assembling all of our footage into a coherent narrative that covers Studley’s life, the construction of the cabinet, the tools and our adventure in documenting it for the book.
The result is a 1 hour 13 minute documentary on the cabinet that features author Don Williams, photographer Narayan Nayar and – most importantly – the cabinet and workbench.
It is a surprisingly engaging documentary, and I say that as a Studley-weary veteran who was there for every frame of the shoot. Strano edited our footage into something that is eminently watchable and features an original soundtrack of period-appropriate piano music (more on that in a future post from Ben).
The DVD will be released on Sept. 25 – the first day of Woodworking in America. We will offer it for pre-publication sales (with free shipping) within the next week or so. And we will also offer it as a streaming video for international customers or those who don’t wish to own a physical DVD.
The DVD will be $20. The streaming video will be $18.
In addition to the documentary, customers who purchase the video will receive a video showing the unloading of the entire cabinet set to music (it will liven up your next party). This footage is nice because it shows a separate still photo of every tool after it is removed from the cabinet.
Check out the short trailer above.
— Christopher Schwarz
By streaming video do downloadable file?
Sorry:
…do you mean downloadable…
No. We’ll be streaming the video through Vimeo but will not be offering a downloadable file for this project.
BOOM! Can’t wait!
Damn you! I am going to further regret not seeing the chest in person. I can’t wait to buy it @ WIA. I will be the guy in the corner ignoring everyone for 1 hour and 13 mins. My apologizes for all who I will ignore.
I cant be the only one who doesnt get it ??
Thank you! I can’t wait! But I would love to know if there’s a high-definition video or (even better) a Blu-Ray version in the works.
No BluRay. We’re baby videographers….
Hi Chris
Which resolution will be the documentary:
– 720 HD
– 1080 FULL HD
Thanks
720p
This looks amazing, I’m really looking forward to this, I am also going to,pick up a copy of the book at the European Woodworking Show in a couple of weeks time.
On a parallel note this short trailer has a similar feel to the amazing documentary “Jiro Dreams of Sushi”. For anyone that strives for perfection it is an stunning piece of work and of very similar dedication to the efforts displayed from Studley.
Beautiful trailer! I’m looking forward to the DVD!