Who Sets the Standard?
Published May 04, 2021 · 9:10 · 257,681 views
About This Video
Every Spirited Man video begins with a hidden shot of Shelley. Van Neistat fixes a busted air compressor hose and discovers why he chose this retired lawyer to set his standard. The answer has nothing to do with tools.
The mechanics are specific. Final Cut Pro 10 uses the first imported shot to lock the format for the entire project: 1920 by 1080, 23.98 frames per second, 40 kilohertz audio. Van imports the same shot of Shelley every time, then deletes it before the edit begins. You never see it. But every video on the channel starts with him.
The surface episode is a 20-minute air compressor hose repair at Shelley's house. Shelley is a retired lawyer with a workshop full of Swiss-made precision screwdrivers he does not need professionally. Van packs one hose clamp and a Dremel. The fix is straightforward. What surrounds it is not. The first thing Shelley does after the compressor runs is top off the tire pressure on Claudia's truck. Not his truck. Claudia's. When he tours his renovated house, every detail is framed the same way: so Claudia can, so Claudia doesn't have to. Claudia is his wife. Van calls Shelley a mensch: a man who takes care of his business and takes care of others.
The video's second thread is Paradox Bullets, the short film Van co-wrote with Tom Sachs, narrated by Werner Herzog, and starring Ed Ruscha. Shelley doubled for Ruscha for three days of desert shooting when the artist could only work three hours. Claudia and their German Shepherd Mac charmed a cop out of shutting the production down for filming on public roads without a permit. The cop bred German Shepherds. That helped.
Van could have chosen any shot from tens of thousands to set his video format. He chose Shelley because Shelley is the kind of man Van hopes, with work, he can one day turn out to be. That is the real subject here: not the compressor, not the hose clamp. What it looks like to have a standard worth holding yourself to.
What Van Uses: Final Cut Pro 10 (video editing), Dremel rotary tool, hose clamp, Swiss-made precision screwdrivers (Shelley's workshop).
Related: An unauthorized repair and the philosophy behind it · Van's repair philosophy in Fantasy Fixing · The long-form debut that references Paradox Bullets
FAQ
What shot sets the standard in Van Neistat's videos? Van imports the same shot of his friend Shelley into Final Cut Pro 10 at the start of every edit. That first shot locks the project format: 1920 by 1080, 23.98 frames per second, 40 kilohertz audio. He deletes it before editing begins. The shot never appears in the finished video.
Who is Shelley on The Spirited Man? Shelley is a retired lawyer and a friend of Van Neistat. Van considers him the standard for what a spirited man looks like. Shelley doubled for Ed Ruscha during three days of filming on Paradox Bullets, and his dog Mac once charmed a cop out of shutting down the production.
What is Paradox Bullets? Paradox Bullets is a short film co-written by Van Neistat and artist Tom Sachs, narrated by Werner Herzog, and starring Ed Ruscha. Shelley, Claudia, and Mac all played roles in making the film possible.
Transcript
this spirited man edits his videos with final cut pro 10.
the first shot he imports into final cut pro 10 determines the audio and video format
for the entire project that's how final cut pro 10 does it if the first
imported shot was shot in 1920 by 1080 at 23.98 frames per second
and 40 kilohertz audio then the entire project will be formatted in 1920x1080
at 23.98 fps and 40 kilohertz audio in other words the first shot sets
the standard for every one of these videos this spirited man has used the same shot
to set the standard you never see this standard setting shot
because once the standard has been set this spirited man deletes it
and gets on with the edit but each one of these videos during the edit
starts with shelley [Music] last tuesday shelley had an idea for an episode let's fix his busted air compressor
[Music] hoses [Music] air compressor hoses bust this particular air compressor company's warranty and customer service were so good that
they had sent shelly entirely new air compressors after he'd simply busted the hose
why not just make a hose repair kit well because so few folks are handy enough
for repair kits these days this was one of those rare straightforward fixes that take only about 20 minutes
turned out that this spirited man needed to pack only this little hose clamp shelley had an entire workshop full of
perfectly organized tools and supplies including these beautiful swiss made screwdrivers
well well well my goodness shelley don't need these tools he's a retired lawyer
he has them because well because shelley is the spirited man
[Music] i'm gonna just cut this [Music] okay so i'm gonna dremel i'm not going to dremel it all the way
off shall we [Music] the first order of business after fixing the compressor was to top off the tire pressure on claudia's badass truck
not shelley's truck claudius truck this is the type of man shelley is what we call
a mensch a man who takes care of his business and takes care of others
[Music] when this spirited man asked shelley for a tour of his newly renovated house what this spirited man would call
a jewel box shelley pointed out certain details and would say so claudia can
this and so claudia doesn't have to bat [Music] claudia is shelley's wife and the love of his life she'll get her own video she's too much to share this one see that dog mac see how well
disciplined and well behaved he is as this camera rolls two men are eating roast beef sandwiches
about eight feet away from mac does he beg no no why because mac
is shelley's dog and shelley told him not to one of the reasons shelley got mack
is to protect claudia on the rare occasions when shelly ain't around her
when it came to the second broken compressor hose shelly said don't worry about it i can fix that one myself
so what's this shot from anyway where does it come from
[Music] it's an outtake from a short film that claudia mack and shelly helped make and saved from being shut down
[Music] it's called paradox bullets go watch it it's good written by the artist tom sachs and this spirited man starring the artist ed roushay and narrated by verner herzog
but saved by shelley claudia and mack when a cop showed up on the set presumably to shut the production down
for shooting on public roads without a permit claudia and mack charmed that idea right out of the cop's head
mack was a puppy at the time and it turned out that the cop
bred german shepherds shelley was ed roushay's double rouche could only shoot for three hours so shelley doubled for him for three days of shooting walking across the desert
jacking up the car they call it movie magic [Music] so sitting in his studio thinking about the big story that this little story about the air compressor
may be trying to tell this spirited man thinks that maybe out of the tens of thousands of
shots he could have chosen to set the standard for his little videos maybe he subconsciously chose the shot of shelley
because to him to this spirited man shelley is the standard
the kind of man he hopes with work he can one day turn out to be himself all right go ahead you need a clapboard oh yeah you
Products & Tools Mentioned
- Final Cut Pro 10 mentions — video editing software
- Dremel mentions — rotary tool used in workshop
- Swiss screwdrivers mentions — precision screwdrivers in workshop
People Referenced
Tom Sachs, Ed Ruscha, Werner Herzog, Shelley, Claudia, Mac
Films & Media Referenced
- Van Neistat/Tom Sachs — Van's short film narrated by Werner Herzog, starring Ed Ruscha