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"Maker Story" Parody Videos are Becoming Better Than the Real Thing

We propose a toast

By Rain Noe - March 1, 2016

in Video | DIY

In our Weekly Maker's Roundup we show you videos of people making things. Often they'll explain what they're doing and how, in hopes you'll pick up a tool and give it a shot yourself. What you won't find is any romanticized pontificating about "what it all means." The guys and gals in the videos we seek out are compelled to build things and interested in teaching others how to do it.

But there's another breed of maker videos, often on Vimeo, that we think of as "I'm a Maker, and Here's My Story" spots. You know the type: They start with piano chords, dolly shots of dusty workbenches, a voiceover. These videos can excel when they reveal an uncommon craft like Ben Harris' traditional boat building, or they strike a chord with Core77 readers for featuring an industrial designer who quit the profession in order to build things, like Ben Cramp. But other times they can devolve into overly-romanticized studies in well-worn tropes.

Comedy-minded videographers have picked up on the latter sort, producing entertaining parodies featuring ReMade's toilet plunger, David Rees' artisanal pencil sharpening and Smoke & Flame's artisanal firewood. The latest is Patrick Kehoe's "The Maker," which perfectly sums up the genre:

If this one doesn't put "maker story" videographers on notice, nothing will. Kehoe and writer/performer Andy Corbett have nailed every trope, from the art direction, the editing, the background music, the earnest delivery of the absurd monologue.

Going a step further into meanness, Hormel's Dinty Moore brand takes direct aim at those who would reduce the maker movement into a fashion statement:

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Not cringeworthy enough for you? This will do the trick:

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Is it me, or are these becoming way more fun to watch than the real deal?

o

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Eric Ludlum

8 years ago

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Our home-spun take on it...

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Mike Cheung

8 years ago

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Our production quality is much lower due to the do-everything-the-day-before-April-1 method, but we still had fun with this one a couple years ago: https://vimeo.com/63080685

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Dan Hamilton

8 years ago

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These are great

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Mark Thomas

8 years ago

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Hadn't seen the toastmaker yet... awesome!

But Rees remains a genre unto himself -- living parody (or is it parody...)

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