You can now place your order for our DVD documentary on the H.O. Studley tool cabinet and workbench, which is entitled “Virtuoso.”
The DVD will ship in late September. Domestic customers who order before Sept. 25, 2015, will receive free shipping on the DVD, which is $20. Visit our store here for details.
When the DVD begins shipping, we then will offer the documentary as a streaming video for $18 that you will be able to watch from any computer or mobile device. Because of a contractual obligation, we cannot sell the streaming video until the DVD is released.
Also, we will not be bundling the DVD, streaming video or book into any bundles with discounts. The price you see now is price everything will still be in a month or year. We do this for two reasons: So that we don’t punish loyal customers who buy books and DVDs as soon as they are released. And so we treat everyone the same, one of our guiding ethics.
The footage for the DVD was shot during the four-year study of Studley’s iconic tool cabinet for the book ‘Virtuoso: The Tool Cabinet & Workbench of H.O. Studley,’ and interviewed the book’s author and photographer. Here is a short trailer.
The result is a 1 hour 13 minute documentary on the cabinet, the man who built it and the intense four-year journey to document the cabinet, its contents and the recently discovered workbench.
In addition to interviews, the DVD includes footage of author Don Williams unloading every tool from the cabinet, which is set to an original musical score so you can experience how every tool fits into the hinged panels of this mahogany and ebony masterpiece.
Chris asked me to write a couple blog posts to give you a little insight into what went in to compiling the DVD companion to Don Williams’s amazing book “Virtuoso.” In addition to that I’ve been given the unpleasant task of introducing myself and giving a little background while trying not to sound like a salesman with my resume.
I was a freelance recording engineer here in Nashville who opted for early retirement. I had a decent career for 12 years and got to work with a lot of great known and unknown artists and musicians. The music industry has changed drastically in recent years. My old job as recording engineer/producer is one that is especially being phased out so I hung up my microphones and (helped) produce a kid instead. I’m mostly a stay-at-home dad now and work part time at an old-school hardware store.
In the past few years I’ve done some audio work for Lost Art Press. I mastered “The Joiner and the Cabinet Maker” and did audio restoration on “The Naked Woodworker” DVD. I come from the audio world, and I was taken aback when Chris asked me to edit a DVD about the Studley tool cabinet. I thought that it would be a chance of a lifetime, and I also thought that someone else should do it. I warned Chris of my lack of experience, but he was adamant that a woodworker should edit this DVD. I like a challenge and couldn’t pass on the opportunity.
Once I started work I quickly figured out why Chris wanted a woodworker first and foremost. I was given more than eight hours of interviews and snippets, an hour of video of them unloading the cabinet and more than 60 gigabytes of pictures (an insane amount!). The DVD needed to be about an hour long. I had at least four hours of mesmerizing content that many woodworkers would love to see. Don’s passion and knowledge about Studley’s work is galvanizing. Narayan’s photographs show more intricacies and subtleties than I ever imagined. To put it mildly, given the raw materials I was handed, the blame would lie squarely on my shoulders if the end product was not entertaining and at least somewhat inspiring.
The first thing I did was watch all of the footage while taking notes on everything that was said, topics covered, tools discussed, even outtake conversations between Don, Narayan and Chris (I had hoped to decipher the location of the collection given this insider information… I still have no clue). After that I watched all of the footage again and began to pull my favorite bits, organizing them by subject. The hard part was there was no outline or script for what the finished video should be. Soon I realized that Don had been kind enough to write an entire book on the subject, and I decided to sort the clips into chapters that corresponded with the book. This “chapter concept” might seem obvious now but at the time it was revolutionary to me and the organization of the video quickly fell into place.
In the recording studio I used to pride myself for being able to assemble a vocal track or guitar solo encompassing all of the best parts of what the artist did into one “super recording” (we called them a “comp” or “composite track”). Editing this video used the same brain synapses. First, go over the multiple times someone discusses a particular subject. Whittle it down into one clip that simply states the point they were trying to make. Make sure there are no “umms” or stutters. On top of that, put mesmerizing pictures focusing on what they are talking about. The whole time keep a ukulele around to plunk out a melody or two that comes to your head… really.
Boom… now you too can edit a DVD about Studley’s tool cabinet and workbench.
In actuality it was a little more complicated than that. After the initial edit of each chapter I would come back the next night and re-edit and smooth things out a bit. Then I would add in the pictures and b-roll footage, followed by another smoothing edit, followed by the music, which I’ll discuss in another post.
As with any editing project be it video, music or a furniture design it’s nearly impossible to fit all of your favorite parts in because they just don’t work with the flow or the overall narrative. A few times I found myself watching a clip over and over again trying to figure out how I could make it work. As a woodworker I would be enthralled by a clip but as an editor I knew technically it’d flow better without it. My wife would remind me that if I was getting excited about something as a woodworker chances are that the Lost Art Press faithful would as well. Those side-notes are my favorite parts of the video. I say this to illustrate the fact that first and foremost (and with the encouragement of my wife) I tried to make a video that I’d want to watch.
I will always be a little bit heartbroken that I didn’t make the pilgrimage to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for the exhibit of the cabinet and workbench. I let day-to-day life get in the way of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I’m so glad that Chris offered me another once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be a part of the telling of an amazing story.
— Ben Strano
Editor’s note: We will begin taking pre-publication orders for this DVD quite soon. And we will be offering free domestic shipping during the introductory period.
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.
We are working like mad to finish up a DVD on the H.O. Studley tool cabinet and workbench so it can be released at Woodworking in America in late September. We’ve hit a little snag, and we hope you can help us.
The DVD is being edited by the ever-capable Ben Strano, who has cleaned up the audio on all of our electronic projects (“The Naked Woodworker” and the audiobook of “The Joiner and Cabinet Maker”). After reviewing the rough cuts of the DVD last week, Ben and I agree we need two things. One is necessary; the other would just be cool.
Necessary: Do you have any video footage of the Studley exhibit in Amana, Iowa, in May? We don’t need much. But a little video of the crowds, the workbench and the chest itself would be a huge help in fleshing out a transition point in the DVD.
We can’t offer you money, but we will be happy to credit you if we use your footage. Contact Ben at his e-mail address: ben@benstrano.com if you think you can help.
Very cool: Do you have a photo of the original Fine Woodworking Studley poster on your shop wall? Or can you take one? We’re hoping to build a montage (a montage!) of these photos as part of the DVD.
Our plan was to offer 1,000 postcards and order a few extra in case some of the postcards were spindled or mutilated in transit. When ordering from our supplier the next tier up was 2,000 postcards.
As a result, we have a few hundred left in our warehouse and will continue to ship them with every domestic order until they are gone.
One other note: The first press run of “Virtuoso” is nearly depleted. So if you are one of those people who desires a first edition, you better click quickly.
You can now place your order for our DVD documentary on the H.O. Studley tool cabinet and workbench, which is entitled “Virtuoso.”
