HOW TO MAKE/POST AN “OUR POST OFFICE…” VIDEO IN 10 EASY STEPS
- Watch the video we made at the Berkeley Post Office so you can see how it is done.
The link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h_ze4Oyp54 - Choose a date and time. Often a weekend afternoon is most effective since more people are not working and school is out.
Check with others to see what would work best for them. - Get a group of your local activists/friends/kids/neighbors to agree to meet you on the steps of your local post office
at the designated time. (Note: You do not need a huge group. Great if you get one, but even a small group – 2-3 people or more – will be effective when we combine a group of videos). When we did our Berkeley video, we first had a rally and some speakers. After a short time, people had gathered, were inspired, and were ready to sing. Also, with a rally first, followed by the video, folks will be there in time to get everyone to sing. - Find someone to shoot the video. Great if you get a professional videographer, but this is not necessary. The important thing
is to get it done. These days all you need is a phone or tablet if you don’t have a professional to tape it. Hint: If someone has an iPad,
it is very easy to transfer your finished video to YouTube by going to the Share function and pressing YouTube. You can then put in a title (e.g. “Our Post Office It Shall Not Be Moved – (Your City Name Here)”), enter a description – or not – and press Publish. This whole process will take less than 15 minutes! - Get someone to play in the key of D or at least start you out with a D chord if at all possible. The reason is so that we can link videos together and we will all be singing in the same key. (Believe me, it makes a difference!) If all you can get is a pitch pipe, start on the F# note (The note in the D chord that is sung first in this song). Or you can just put our video on for a minute and try to get close to the same note we started on. If this is absolutely impossible for you, please still DO make your video.
Participation is more important than perfection - Words: figure this out ahead of time! You may use the verses we used, but it would be most effective if you had at least one verse of your own. Here are the words we sang in Berkeley:
Our Post Office, it shall not be moved Our Post Office, it shall not be moved
Just like a tree that’s standing by the water - It shall not be moved
Built in 1914… The artwork is amazing… No to union busting… No privatization…
Our post office…
You can do this many verses or just a few. You can do more! It would be great if you could make up a line or more that would personalize your group, even if it’s just something simple like “The (your city) Post Office, it shall not be moved…
It really does help to write out the words as we did so everyone can see them clearly and can sing them together! - If at all possible, contact your local media – newspapers, TV and Radio, etc. to let them know what you’re doing. A simple press release – who, what, when, where, why – can really help get the press to show, and it’s great for morale – and for the cause - to get noticed!
- Post Your Video on You Tube. If you are using an iPad or some such device, see step #4. If you have no idea how to do this, contact Hali Hammer at halih@yahoo.com or (510) 649-1423 with any questions. If you are successful in uploading, send me the link!
- If you have no way to upload, you can send a DVD or flash drive to: Hali Hammer, 1609 Woolsey Street, Berkeley CA 94703. If you send a SASE I will return it to you if you’d like it back.
- HAVE FUN!!! TOGETHER WE WIN!!!