Documenting Social Change and Cultural Shifts: Global Production Challenges on MTV Worlds Rebel Music

NEW YORK The mtvU documentary series Rebel Music examines the lives of young people who use art and music to spark change around the world. The first two 30-minute episodes of the six-part series premiered on November 18, with the remaining episodes debuting weekly on the mtvU network and online at RebelMusic.com

Each episode of Rebel Music highlights a different country grappling with social injustice, from the revolution in Egypt and sexual oppression in India to a Mexican drug harbor struggling to reinvent itself as a cultural haven.

Rebel Music was created and executive produced by Nusrat Durrani, senior vice president/general manager of MTV World, and executive produced by acclaimed graphic artist Shepard Fairey, who also created the visual identity for the series. (Durrani also acted as a co-director for the India, Egypt, Afghanistan and Mexico episodes.)

Rebel Music mirrors the approach and philosophy I've embraced throughout my entire career: art as a catalyst for social change, Fairey said in a press release. MTV World has the ability to reach and give voices to young people around the world on a scale unlike a lot of other platforms, and it's something to applaud.

Two years in the making, the series entailed copious research. The production team worked with local crews as well as documentary luminaries such as Academy Award winner Ross Kauffman, co-director of Born into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids, who served a consulting producer for the series in addition to photographing the India and Mali segments.

Equipment

Cinematographer Mikhail Galustov shot the Afghanistan, Egypt and Israel-Palestine episodes with a Canon EOS C300 fitted with a Chrosziel mattebox. This setup was very convenient for handheld shooting, and the camera allowed him to shoot in low-light situations on the streets of Cairo without additional lighting sources, says Andrew Ross Rowe, who served as producer, assistant editor and additional camera on the Egypt episode. Protesters, graffiti artists and people posting flyers were all captured on the fly. We wanted it all to look natural, and that camera's mark on the industry has always been low light. The camera was also amazing for B-roll scenics.

For the Egypt episode, Ross Rowe employed a Canon EOS 5D Mk III as second camera. The camera was preloaded with Technicolor CineStylein order to match the look and feel of the C300 camera's footage. The 5D was mounted on a monopod for interviews and operated handheld in the street. We could approach a person or group much easier with what looked to be a still photo camera, he comments. It's very disarming to use a smile and a smaller body for B-roll.

Challenges

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