MacDonald and Owen Lumber Co. won Grand Prize and best marketing video for “Hardwoods Done Right.”
Everyone recognizes the power of video to inform, sell, educate, and entertain, so it’s no surprise that winners in the first CabinetMakerFDM video contest are strong in all of those categories.
We asked our readers to send short (under 10 minutes) videos in four separate categories: marketing, training, plant tour, and most entertaining. The results were a wide-ranging selection from do-it-yourself fun to polished professional productions, but all added a new dimension to presenting woodworking information. Check the links on this page to see the winners yourself.
Top winner
Grand Prize for the best video overall goes to the winner of the marketing category, MacDonald and Owen Lumber Co. Their video, “Hardwoods Done Right,” is a fast-paced, well filmed, and smoothly produced video. In less than two and a half minutes it gives viewers a broad sense of the company.
There are interviews and testimonials from both company officials and customers. There are dynamic scenes of the factory floor showing lumber being processed in a variety of stages. Excellent lighting and creative camera angles add energy and a good music sound track pushes the action along without getting in the way. The result is a powerful message that can’t help but encourage you to do business with the company.
Best training video
R.D. Mueller Custom Cabinets was the standout winner in the best training video category with a succinct video explaining the use of the Festool TS55 plunge saw and a shopbuilt work table designed to get the most from the saw. Coming in at just under the 10-minute limit, the video is the kind of straightforward see-and-do project that shows the power of video for education.
H. Gerstner & Sons Inc. won for best plant tour video.
In the video, veteran woodworker Roger Mueller shows how he cuts up sheet goods, including heavy MDF, all alone and without benefit of a panel saw by using the Festool TS55, parallel guides, and a special table. There’s nothing fancy about the video, but the information is just what you need to get the job done.
Best plant tour video
H. Gerstner & Sons Inc. is famous for their solid wood, multi-drawer tool boxes that have been revered by machinists and woodworkers for more than a century. This winning plant tour video is an example of letting actions speak louder than words. There is no narration, just a pleasant acoustic music soundtrack and the sounds of machines in the background as you watch every stage in the manufacture, assembly and finishing of a Gerstner tool chest.
With good angles and lots of close-ups, the video emphasizes the craftsmanship and attention to detail, right down to carefully screwing on the hardware. The stars of the show are the employees, who all stand out as individual talented crafts people, all putting their special touch on a fine work in wood that all can be proud of.
Most entertaining video
When we established the most entertaining video category, we weren’t sure what we would get in response, but we hoped for fun and creative entries. The winner was just that. B.C. Saw & Tool set a tour of their saw sharpening process to the lively tempo of the Black Eyed Peas’ “Rockin to the Beat.”
Who would have thought that precision industrial saw sharpening could be set to music? In this video, “Tour to the Beat,” not only is the sharpening on beat, but there are even playful moments where the blades back up and shift right along with the music, much like a rap DJ back-spinning a disc to get a unique sound (watch for the back-spinning saw blades!).