Wood – from past to present

A highly complex and nowadays almost forgotten tradition of woodworking has developed over time and has been passed orally. Historical film footage or documentaries for cinema, TV or online purposes however often do not meet the standards of scientific documentation. Even though the processing of wood has changed considerably - from farm or manual processing to ultra-modern industrial products, wood will obtain an even more important role considering shortage of resources or climate change and it will remain one of our most important raw materials. 

Historical knowledge about wood processing will play a crucial part in ensuring a sustainable exploitation of our forests. The HR (Holzhandwerk revisited) project aims at a thorough and scientific documentation guided by experts on wood and moving images of known wood processing techniques in order to pass on valuable knowledge to future generations via contemporary means of communication. 

Old traditions, new filmic formats

The documentation is supposed to portray woodworking techniques as detailed as possible. Not only woodcraft but also filmmaking and knowledge transfer are therefore imparted. The goal of the project is to think of new formats for educational documentaries and to exemplify them. At the same time, the project will concentrate on a contemporary and attractive presentation from young adults for young adults – museums and web platforms are going to present the videos online.

Results 

By involving students, media creators and woodworkers, it was possible to create an attractive, modern layout for the films. This is especially important since the content is rather difficult to access. With a total of over 40.000 hits (as of March 2020) on two distribution channels on YouTube (project playlist on ctv.fhstp.ac.at and Holzverwendung) the project can be rated as extremely successful. 60 % of hits do not come via the project community, but have been recommended exclusively via the platform. Feedback and evaluation show that the use of several cameras to record events from several angles simultaneously is particularly well received.

The film format was also successfully tested: Students of the HTL Mödling’s Department of Wood Technology provided with the materials and tools were largely able to produce the products after studying the films.