American Teen (2008)

Director:

Nanette Burstein

Writer:

Nanette Burstein (writer)

Release Date:

11 October 2008 (Japan)

Genre:

Documentary

Tagline:

Remember high school? It's gotten worse.

Plot:

A documentary on seniors at a high school in a small Indiana town and their various cliques. |

Plot Keywords:

Indiana | High School | Depression | Small Town | Father Son Relationship

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Hannah Bailey	...	Herself
Colin Clemens	...	Himself
Geoff Haase	...	Himself
Megan Krizmanich	...	Herself
Jennifer Lucht	...	Herself
Mitch Reinholt	...	Himself
Jennifer Sheopherd	...	Herself
Jake Tusing	...	Himself
Ali Wikalinska	...	Herself

Directed by
Nanette Burstein

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Nanette Burstein		writer

Produced by
Sharon Barnes	....	associate producer
Nanette Burstein	....	producer
Nancy Dubuc	....	executive producer
Eli Gonda	....	producer
Ryan Harrington	....	co-producer
Christopher Huddleston	....	producer (as Chris Huddleston)
Owen Katz	....	producer: animation (segment "Fight") (segment "Jocks - BBall") (segment "Love") (segment "Nerd") (segment "Notre Dame")
Karen Lawler	....	producer: animation (segment "Nerd") (segment "Notre Dame")
Anna Molund	....	producer: animation, againstallodds (segment "Fight") (segment "Love")
Patrick R. Morris	....	executive producer (as Patrick Morris)
Elisa Pugliese	....	executive producer
Jordan Roberts	....	producer
Steve Rosenbaum	....	co-producer
Adina Sales	....	executive producer: animation (segment "Fight") (segment "Hannah's Depression") (segment "Jocks - BBall") (segment "Kiss") (segment "Love") (segment "Nerd") (segment "Notre Dame")
Adina Sales	....	executive producer: animation, Blacklist
Rob Sharenow	....	executive producer
Molly Thompson	....	executive producer
Josh Thorne	....	executive producer: againstallodds (segment "Love")
Josh Thorne	....	executive producer: animation, againstallodds (segment "Fight")
Rebecca Cammisa	....	field producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Michael Penn

Cinematography by
Robert Hanna
Wolfgang Held
Laela Kilbourn

Film Editing by
Nanette Burstein
Thomas Haneke		(as Tom Haneke)
Mary Manhardt

Casting by
Tamra Barcinas

Production Management
Greg Orselli	....	production supervisor

Art Department
Junko Shimizu	....	sets/props: animation (segment "Hannah's Depression")
Mäns Swanberg	....	art director: animation (segment "Kiss")
Paige Travis	....	sets/props: animation (segment "Hannah's Depression")

Sound Department
Mark Binder	....	sound editor
Mark Binder	....	sound re-recording mixer
Mike Chock	....	sound designer (as Michael Chock)
Mike Chock	....	supervising sound editor (as Michael Chock)
Ken Dabek	....	additional sound mixer
Stefan Fraticelli	....	foley artist
Mark A. Mangini	....	sound editor (as Mark Mangini)
Mark A. Mangini	....	sound re-recording mixer (as Mark Mangini)
Dave Plowman	....	foley assistant
Matthew Reale	....	sound mix technician
Anna Rieke	....	sound mixer
John Sievert	....	foley artist
Byron Smith	....	additional sound mixer
Randy Wilson	....	foley mixer
Rebecca Cammisa	....	sound recordist (uncredited)
Mark Coffey	....	first assistant sound editor (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Micha Boström	....	CG artist (segment "Love")
Micha Boström	....	cg artist (segment "Fight")
Cecilia Chien	....	additional flame artist (segment "Nerd")
Wyeth Hansen	....	additional motion graphics artist (as Wyeth Hanson)
Matthew W. Johnson	....	smoke artist: Post Logic Studios
David Kelley	....	motion graphics artist
Stefan Lagerstam	....	lighting and rendering (segment "Fight") (segment "Love")
Kristian Rydberg	....	CG artist (segment "Love")
Kristian Rydberg	....	cg artist (segment "Fight")
Adam Sackett	....	motion graphics assistant
Lutz Vogel	....	3D animator (segment "Nerd")
Lutz Vogel	....	flame artist (segment "Nerd")
Roger P. Wasson	....	motion graphics assistant

Camera and Electrical Department
Tamas Bojtor	....	additional photography
Axel Bowman	....	additional photography
Rebecca Cammisa	....	additional photography
Sam Henriques	....	additional photography (as Samson Hanriques)
David Lobser	....	cinematographer: animation (segment "Hannah's Derpression")
Ed Marritz	....	additional photography (as Edward Morritz)
Vasco Nunes	....	additional photography
James Rexroad	....	still photographer
Eliot Rockett	....	additional photography (as Elliot Rockett)
Brett Wiley	....	additional photography

Animation Department
Ariadne Binderl	....	paints and textures (segment "Jocks - BBall")
Aaron Bjork	....	animator (segment "Notre Dame")
Cecilia Carlstedt	....	illustrator: animation (segment "Kiss")
Matthew Encinas	....	animator (segment "Notre Dame")
Paul Hwang	....	creative lead (segment "Notre Dame")
Diogo Kalil	....	animator (segment "Jocks - BBall)
Diogo Kalil	....	creative lead (segment "Jocks - BBall)
George Katz	....	animator (segment "Notre Dame")
Ben Lee	....	creative lead (segment "Notre Dame")
Alex Lins	....	character designer (segment "Jocks - BBall")
Alex Lins	....	modeler (segment "Jocks - BBall")
Shu-Chen Lin	....	modeler (segment "Hannah's Depression")
David Lobser	....	animator (segment "Hannah's Depression")
David Lobser	....	creative lead (segment "Hannah's Depression")
Aron Ögren	....	animator (segment "Fight") (segment "Love")
Derek Picken	....	creative lead (segment "Fight") (segment "Love")
Alli Sadegiani	....	animator (segment "Fight"_) (segment "Love")
Cecilia Skedinger	....	animator (segment "Fight") (segment "Love")
Sean Starkweather	....	animator (segment "Notre Dame")
Mäns Swanberg	....	creative lead (segment "Kiss")
Lutz Vogel	....	2D animator (segment "Nerd")
Lutz Vogel	....	animation designer (segment "Nerd")
Lutz Vogel	....	creative lead (segment "Nerd")
Zoe Wishart	....	2D animator (segment "Nerd")
Zoe Wishart	....	animation designer (segment "Nerd")
Zoe Wishart	....	creative lead (segment "Nerd")
Steve Woodruff	....	animator (segment "Fight") (segment "Love")

Editorial Department
Kris Santa Cruz	....	colorist: high definition
Doug Delaney	....	digital intermediate colorist
Jonathan Giraldo	....	assistant editor
Jason M. Harvey	....	assistant editor (as Jason Harvey)
Jennifer Lee	....	assistant editor (as Jenny Lee)
Timothy Lozada	....	assistant editor (as Tim Lozada)
Gregory Maratea	....	digital intermediate producer: Post Logic Studios
Rebecca Merle	....	post-production coordinator
Katie Schulz	....	post-production coordinator (as Katie Schultz)
William Lehman	....	assistant editor (uncredited)
Cyril Merle	....	assistant editor (uncredited)
Jaron White	....	contributing editor (uncredited)

Music Department
Jay Bellerose	....	musician: drums and percussion (as Jay Belrose)
Caroline Buckman	....	musician: viola
Matthew Cooker	....	musician: cello (as Matt Cooker)
Marcy Dicterow-Vaj	....	musician: violin (as Marcy Vaj)
Richard Dodd	....	musician: cello
Chris Douridas	....	music supervisor
Ryan Freeland	....	music recording engineer: The Pass
Terry Glenny	....	musician: violin
Eric Gorfaine	....	musician: violin (as Eric Gorfain)
Leah Katz	....	musician: viola
James King	....	musician: saxophone
John Krovoza	....	musician: cello
Marisa Kuney	....	musician: violin
Joe Lisanti	....	music editor
Bruce MacFarlane	....	music recording engineer: Mimeograph (as Bruce Macfarlane)
Craig MacIntyre	....	musician: drums and percussikon
Peter Nevil	....	musician: clarinet
Dan Ostermann	....	musician: trombone
Dan Ostermann	....	musician: tuba
Alyssa Park	....	musician: violin
Michael Penn	....	musician: keyboards, guitar, bass, various and sundry
Nic Rainer	....	music editor
Melissa Reiner	....	musician: violin
Jim Schultz	....	music editor
The Section Quartet	....	musicians: quartet
Niko Toubia	....	assistant music supervisor
Patrick Warren	....	musician: keyboards
Patrick Warren	....	orchestrator
Amy Wickman	....	musician: violin
Alwyn Wright	....	musician: violin

Other crew
Claire Chandler	....	intern/logger
Kelsey Coleman	....	intern/logger
Vincent J. Cook III	....	intern/logger (as Vincent James Cook III)
Alfred DeGrand	....	intern/logger
Jacqueline Eckhouse	....	legal services: Sloss Eckhouse Brennan
Andrew Esterly	....	intern/logger
Nicholas Feitel	....	office intern
John B. Finn	....	accountant: JFA (as John Finn)
Ted Gesing	....	production coordinator
Brian Hayashi	....	intern/logger
Pete Hayes	....	accountant: JFA
Alex J. Johnson	....	production assistant (as Alex Johnson)
David Kelley	....	title designer
Paul Kresge	....	intern/logger
Daniel Manco	....	production assistant (as Dan Manco)
Adam Mandel	....	legal services: Sloss Eckhouse Brennan
Adam Messenger	....	intern/logger
Bernard Moor-Jankowski	....	intern/logger (as Bernard Moor Jankowski)
Chris Ohlson	....	production coordinator
Keith Overton	....	intern/logger
Erin Owens	....	production assistant
Emily Radecki	....	production assistant
Adam Sackett	....	title design assistant
Jared Sales	....	intern/logger
Michael Smith	....	intern/logger
Melody Storm	....	intern/logger
Roger P. Wasson	....	title design assistant
A.M. Peters	....	assistant to director (uncredited)

Thanks
Hannah Bailey	....	special thanks
Colin Clemens	....	special thanks
Geoff Haase	....	special thanks
Megan Krizmanich	....	special thanks
Jennifer Lucht	....	special thanks
Mitch Reinholt	....	special thanks
Jennifer Shepherd	....	special thanks
Jake Tusing	....	special thanks
Ali Wikalinska	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• 57th & Irving Productions
• A&E IndieFilms
• Blacklist
• Firehouse Films
• QuasiWorld Entertainment

Distributors

• Festive Films (2008) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• Hollywood Entertainment (2008) (Greece) (theatrical)
• Paramount Japan (2008) (Japan) (theatrical) (as Paramount Pictures Japan)
• Paramount Vantage (2008) (worldwide) (theatrical) (except UK)
• Nordisk Film Theatrical Distribution (2009) (Finland) (DVD)
• Paris Filmes (2009) (Brazil) (all media)

Special Effects

• Againstallodds (animation) (segment "Fight") (segment "Love")
• Blacklist (animation)
• Nanospore (animation) (segment "Notre Dame")
• Pistachios (animation) (segment "Kiss")
• Psyop (animation) (segment "Nerd")
• Render It (render farm) (segment "Fight") (segment "Love)
• Syndicate Entertainment Movers (motion capture suite) (segment "Fight") (segment "Love")

Other Companies

• Columbia Records  soundtrack
• Indiepay  payroll services
• JFA  accounting services
• Mimeograph Records  music recording facility (as Mimeograph)
• Pass, The  music recording facility
• Post Logic Studios  digital intermediate
• Sloss Eckhouse Brennan Law  legal services (as Sloss Eckhouse Brennan)
• Swelltone Therater  sound re-recording facility
• Widget Post Production  sound mix facility

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some strong language, sexual material, some drinking and brief smoking-all involving teens.

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 | Australia:M | Japan:PG-12 | Denmark:7 | UK:15 | Ireland:15A | Finland:K-11 | New Zealand:M | Singapore:NC-16

Filming Locations:

Indiana, USA

Company:

57th & Irving Productions

Movie Connections:

Featured in "At the Movies: (2008-11-19)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

Sea Ghosts

Well worth seeing

Winning a place on the guest list to American Teen was not a high priority for me. When I heard the title, I thought it must be a teen movie, and when I read that it was a documentary, I was even less interested. I could not have been more wrong.

This was the first time I've watched a documentary in a cinema, and it was well worth a Monday night. The stories of these five adolescents from Warsaw, Indiana were absolutely compelling, and wonderfully hilarious, as the raucous laughter from a near-empty cinema attested. Nanette Burstein has edited their experiences in their final year of high school with a deft hand, developing a rich, interwoven story well worth telling.

Watching these young Americans over-experience every emotion imaginable was fascinating not only because of the universal comedy of youth, but also because it reminds you just how much better our own education system is. Which is quite an accomplishment when your audience is a cynical old ex-teacher like myself.

American Teen is not ground-breaking or unique, but it is one of those rare pieces of film-making that exemplifies the best of the art form: simple storytelling, with characters that are easy to relate to, an awesome soundtrack, and an image of ourselves. Well worth a Monday night. Or even a Friday. Go see it.