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:

High School | School | Indiana | Birthday | Prank Telephone Call

Awards:

3 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Jake Tusing	...	Himself
Megan Krizmanich	...	Herself
Colin Clemens	...	Himself
Mitch Reinholt	...	Himself
Hannah Bailey	...	Herself
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Geoff Haase	...	Himself
Jennifer Lucht	...	Herself
Jennifer Sheopherd	...	Herself
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
Chris Huddleston	....	producer
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
J. Byron Smith	....	additional sound mixer (as Byron Smith)
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
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")
Shu-Chen Lin	....	modeler (segment "Hannah's Depression")
Alex Lins	....	character designer (segment "Jocks - BBall")
Alex Lins	....	modeler (segment "Jocks - BBall")
David Lobser	....	animator (segment "Hannah's Depression")
David Lobser	....	creative lead (segment "Hannah's Depression")
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")
Andreas Westin	....	animator
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")
Aron Ögren	....	animator (segment "Fight") (segment "Love")

Editorial Department
Doug Delaney	....	digital intermediate colorist
Katie Dellamaggiore	....	post-production coordinator (as Katie Schultz)
Jonathan Giraldo	....	assistant editor
Jason M. Harvey	....	assistant editor (as Jason Harvey)
Matthew W. Johnson	....	smoke artist
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
Kris Santa Cruz	....	colorist: high definition
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)
Ryan Garrett	....	intern/logger
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
German R. Sanchez	....	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) (USA) (theatrical)
• Argentina Video Home (2010) (Argentina) (DVD)
• 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

Also Known As:

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 | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Indiana, USA

Company:

57th & Irving Productions

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Jake is playing Zelda, the TV shows the trailer to Twilight Princess, meaning he isn't actually playing the game. The sound effects that can be heard actually come from Windwaker.

Movie Connections:

Features Solitaire (1981) (VG)

Soundtrack:

Breathe In

A Mockumentary Tribute to John Hughes

Any enjoyment I may have experienced watching this film was killed by a nagging doubt that what I was watching was authentic.

Is it just me ... or does this film smell fishy? Not only is the camera ALWAYS in the right place when key events occur but each shot has degree of polish that would seem to have required a lot of advanced planning.

This feels like some sort of mockumentary and I'm amazed it has been so positively reviewed. Is America this naive?

Even if this film is real, it doesn't give us any more insight into the world of teen cliques than we got 25 years ago from John Hughes films. With most documentaries, there is are questions about what liberties were taken for the sake of the presentation but "American Teen" goes beyond that. I'm hoping Nanette Burstein will soon say, "By the way, I hope everyone realizes this was a gag." Otherwise, she has lost all credibility with me.