The Making of the

MJ "Take A Stand" Music Video

by Dan Drabik
Actor in the Video
5/8/01

MJ, Manny and Joy Medina of Hoboken, New Jersey. Latin Pop artists working extremely hard at what they do. Very talented brother and sister team. These were a few of the things I knew about MJ before visiting my cousin, David Musial, MJ's executive producer here in Jersey City, New Jersey. It all started about four weeks ago when I received a call from him. He explained that MJ was shooting a video and going to Atlantic City, New Jersey to perform in the New Jersey D.A.R.E. Convention. He also explained that I could get an idea of what goes on here in the studio, in rehearsal, and the smaller things that make MJ happen.

I must say that the past five days I have been here there has not been a dull moment. As I was boarding the plane last Thursday, ideas were racing through my mind about what I was going to be doing this trip. The only thing I knew that was going to happen was that I was going to be in the video shoot. I had no idea what to expect from the shoot because as I have learned, this business is very unpredictable. The shoot was very interesting. First, just the idea of being in a music video that was not promoting serious negativity felt very good.

Second, I had the opportunity to meet some very cool people. Saturday was probably the best day of my trip. Dave and I went over to the Medina's for dinner. When we arrived, Manny and Joy were in a "boot camp" rehearsal under instruction of Mr. Danilo Sobers. Danilo has worked with other famous artists like: Boys II Men, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, etc.

While watching them, what they were about suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks, that this is not just some "just say no to drugs" message. What they sing about in their songs is genuine material, it comes from their hearts. I was, I guess in shock. The looks on their faces were for real and the they were giving it their all; and this is just the rehearsal! As I sat there watching, I couldn't decide what I was feeling. I guess I was so touched I was holding back tears. I could not get over what I was seeing!

The next day, Sunday, Dave devoted long, hard hours in the studio editing the sound track and the recently shot music video. The camera used to shoot the video was not big and expensive, it was a small, tiny digital camera . From the camera, the video was uploaded onto his Apple Macintosh computer. The video was made using iMovie by Apple. Sunday night and well into early Monday morning, he was putting the finishing touches on the video. While he was doing this, I was doing some things on my own. Late Sunday, I typed up lyrics to the songs We, Are, Drug, Free! and Take A Stand Stop The Violence! Later that day I made some 300 copies for the D.A.R.E. convention the next day in Atlantic City.

Around eight o'clock Monday evening, we loaded up the van and headed out. On the way Danilo had the video camera and he recorded almost like a "video journal" of what was happening. Dave was "interviewing" Manny and Joy to get them prepared for questions people might have after their performance. We finally arrived at Bally's and checked into our hotel rooms, got a quick bite to eat and we were out in the city shooting more video and taking still pictures. We finally retired around 1:30 a.m. On Tuesday morning we had an early start. We woke up around 6:00 a.m. and headed down to the conference room for a 7:00 a.m. sound check.

The conference began a little after 9:00 a.m. and I had the privilege to record it. The room was filled with police officers and teachers who probably were not expecting what they got! MJ was introduced and their performance began. The whole time I was taping, I was feeling like I was part of it, feeling that this was going to be a success!

After they performed their last dance move, their hard labor was rewarded with loud clapping and a standing ovation from all of the adults! After the conference was over, MJ, David, Danilo, and Luis, MJ's father, were all on hand answering any questions people had. The people loved what MJ had done and what they are about so much that MJ received somewhere around 30 offers for graduations and even one for a television commercial! Later that afternoon, we headed out to the board walk to do some site seeing and shoot video. We started out on the beach and were there for about and hour when D.A.R.E. vehicles started parading down the board walk. Seeing this, Dave had Manny and Joy shoot video walking next to the cars as they went down the board walk. Shortly after they started shooting, we had problems with the boom box. Luckily there was a truck driving by that had a massive sound system in the back. The officer driving it was in the conference earlier and saw MJÕs performance. He gladly put the CD in and started playing it while Dave continued to shoot video!

We left Tuesday around 4:30 p.m. and Dave and I arrived back at his studio around 8:00 p.m. That night him and I chilled and just hung out. While doing this I was thinking about all the people I met and my experience hanging out with MJ. I came to the conclusion that one week was not enough! Dan :-)