The parents weren't concerned about how you were going to edit the film?
"No. At least they didn't express it to me. Maybe they did to their kids and said...I'm sure they said, 'Make sure you're careful about what you do on camera.' No doubt that those conversations happened."
Which is really interesting, especially when you look at Megan who doesn't seem to be careful at all about what she's saying in front of you and the camera. She didn't edit herself. However she felt, whatever she wanted, everything came out of her mouth. Did that change over the course of 10 months or is that how she was the entire time?
"No, that definitely changed. She was very cautious - and the most cautious in the beginning. It took a while for her to be herself on camera. I mean, she was always brazen. That's who she is and she can't edit that. But there were certain activities that she did that she didn't want filmed for a while. At the beginning she was the most like, 'Do I really want to do this or not?' I was like, 'Listen, if you want to do this, you have to be on board, otherwise you shouldn't do it.'"
How hard was it for you to stand back and not pass judgment on these kids as you're watching them go through their daily lives?
"Well, you know, I wasn't an angel in high school so I always find people that I understand. I may not always agree with what they're doing at the moment. It's part of being human and it's especially part of being a teenager. And when I'm not filming them I try to give them some good advice, whether they listen to me or not. I get close to them and I try to be a big sister. But for example with Megan, I knew what had happened with her family before I ever even met her. The vice principal had told me. And I knew about, once I got to know her a little bit - I mean even just the first time talking to her - I knew about her, the pressure she felt to get into Notre Dame College and how nervous she was about that. I just saw her as a far more complicated girl than the stereotype of the mean popular girl. I saw there was a lot more there, a lot of vulnerability there and real depth, and someone I could sympathize with despite whatever she might do at times."
How did you determine where to insert animated clips in the film and why did you feel they were necessary?
"You know, the animation was definitely different in this. I decided to do it because I felt that your inner life at that age and your fantasy life is important. The only way to really illustrate that is animation because otherwise it's just people talking about it and you don't really convey the full emotion of what they're feeling. So before I shot the film I had that idea and then when I would interview them each once a month to reflect on whatever was happening in their lives, and I would include it at the end, I explained to them that I wanted to try using an animated piece with each of them and to have them describe at the time whatever their wishful thinking was or fantasy life was at the time. So I had these narrations from them describing them, and just picked what I felt was most important for each person's story to include in the movie. [Laughing] Jake had more than one because he had a lot of fantasies going on."
Did they have any say at all on what their animations looked like?
"I tried to get them to describe it visually to me as much as they could as well. But they weren't involved in the actual process of making them."
You filmed for 10 months. Is it true it took nearly a year in the editing room to complete the film?
[Laughing] "Yes, it's true."
Were you pulling your hair out by the end of the process?
"No, I actually love the editing process. I started out as an editor. I really do. So no, I really enjoyed it. I mean there are moments, yeah, to where I was incredibly frustrated or felt hopeless."
How do you get past those?
"You just keep going. You just figure it out. You're just plodding, it's this very slow plodding process, and when you're stuck on certain things you move on. Basically I edit each story separately before I start putting them together. So if you get stuck you move on to something else and come back to it."
I really admire the job you did editing this because all the storylines flowed so smoothly and the audience knew what each person was doing at exactly what time. But I just can't imagine being in your shoes facing all that footage.
"I worked with two other very talented editors too. There was a team of us. Mary Manhardt, who worked on the film the whole time with me, she and I worked together before and she's just phenomenal. She's incredibly talented."
Did you have to cut out much you wish you could have included in the completed film? Was there anything that focused on one of the students that you just couldn't get in?
"Yeah, I mean especially with Hannah. I could have just made a film about her because she really had a very tough year. So there were great parts of her story that I had to cut out because they weren't necessarily moving. I mean, they were great and they were fascinating and they were incredibly raw and intimate and dramatic, but they weren't necessarily the most important parts of her story or moving that part of her story forward. So to make room for three other people, you really have to be very careful in what you choose."
Do you know if Hannah's senior year was typical of her entire high school experience?
"It's not. No, it just happened to be like the most trying year of her life."
Have you kept in contact with these four kids?
"Yes. Yes, very much so."
Are they pleased with the final cut of the film?
"They are. They're all very pleased, and I hope they continue to feel that way. They all came out to Sundance with me where the movie first premiered. Some of them had already seen the film and some of them hadn't, but I showed it to them in our condo on DVD before we ever watched it with an audience. You know, they've seen it in a lot of different settings now and they continue to really like it and enjoy it. They're going to be promoting the movie this summer so it's been a lot of fun for them too. And they feel that it honestly depicts them."
