To step onto the campus of Marshall High in the summer of 1999 was like catching a glimpse of the future - we saw what much of the United States would look like in 20 to 30 years. Los Angeles has always been a city on the cusp of the next wave of immigration, and at Marshall, students from 41 different ethnic backgrounds flowed together in a vibrant mix of faces and cultures.

Located just east of Hollywood, between the tonier neighborhood of Los Feliz and the artists' community of Silver Lake, Marshall is one of the most photographed campuses in the nation. It has been the "set" for hundreds of TV and film productions about teenagers, from "Grease" to "Buffy, The Vampire Slayer" to "Boston Public". Yet, for all its use as a movie location, no film had actually captured what contemporary teenage lives were really like. By placing cameras directly into the hands of students, we wanted to show the lives of the students as they lived them, and to let the voices of the next generation be unleashed.

Throughout the making of CHAIN CAMERA, the entire production team was continually impressed with the articulate, forthright, intelligent, and confident manner of the students at Marshall. Being a teenager has never been easy, especially so in the complex urban environment of Los Angeles. Many struggled with difficulties at home -- dealing with parents who were abusive, alcoholic, or -- worse yet -- completely absent from their day-to-day existence.

One student, Cinammon, 17, seemed more comfortable about her sexuality than most people twice her age. Having an open lesbian relationship in high school can't always be easy, she seemed unafraid of scorn or derision, proudly telling us she intended to take her girlfriend to the prom as her date. And the first time that Jesse, whose wicked wit camouflaged a tumultuous home life, revealed a laundry list of political organizations he actively belonged to, we couldn't help but be impressed. And to see a boy like Ethan begin to engage with the outside world, and to open up to the camera and express himself, was to watch someone grow into his own skin. Meeting the students in person was refreshing for the production team, watching the footage the students shot was revelatory.

We issued only the most basic instructions with regard to the camera, yet the footage that came back was always inventive, vivid and surprisingly professional "Show us your lives,'' we told them, and show us they did ­ intimate moments, private confessions, deep thoughts and fears, life-changing experiences -- on tape after tape. It was fascinating material, and by the end of the year, we had 700 hours of footage.

We couldn't have done it without the support of Marshall High's principal, Tom Abraham, or faculty member Harley Haas, the guru of the school's Media Center. Harley graciously lent his support to the project right from the start, working with his coordinator Greg Munda to insure that the cameras continued to reach new and different students. It even became something of a game around the school. "Can I get the camera next week?" students would ask in the hallways by their lockers. "Oh, man, let me have that camera, I'll show you some good stuff!" other students would boast into the lens as their camera-wielding friends shot them in close up.

Hundreds of movies and television shows purport to present the "reality" of the teenage experience. Yet all of these projects are written, produced, and often performed by adults. Even a "traditional" documentary about teenagers has a built-in formality - the distance of the subject/filmmaker relationship. With CHAIN CAMERA, there was no barrier. The very absence of a film crew allowed the students to simply be themselves. Teenagers act very differently in the presence of adults than with their peers; in the film, they simply could be themselves. And knowing their footage would be seen, they used as mouthpieces, as a way to communicate with the adult world on their own terms. Sometimes, as in the case of Silva talking about her mom's depression, or Fernando recounting a friend's contraction of the AIDS virus, it seemed downright cathartic.

The structure of the film emerged naturally. The intimate quality of the tapes did not lend themselves to crosscutting. Once you spent time with a student, you wanted to stick with him or her--moving quickly to someone else was an unwanted intrusion. And yet, the cameras were only with each of the students for a week's time -- not enough to unfold a huge story 'arc' in the traditional sense. We found that the most effective way to present the material was to distill the most captivating footage of each student into four to six minute segments. In this way, we could get deep inside the lives and minds of each person before moving on.

The teenagers in CHAIN CAMERA deal with a wide range of experiences ­ including sexuality, race relations, family conflict, and sense of self. Not only does each student's segment reveal a different experience of growing up, but each of these segments are shown in a different style, as seen through the eyes and the POV's of the student who shot it. By seeing how each student shoots, we learn as much about them as we do from what they shoot. Using this method, the personalities of the subjects come forward, and the issues come with them.

This open-ended, democratic approach extends to the viewing of the film as well. High school is a uniquely formative and emotional experience for everyone.

Watching CHAIN CAMERA causes audiences to vividly recall this intense period of their lives, and to respond to the film accordingly. Every viewer responds to each subject and situation in the film based on his or her own unique high school experiences. As a result, no two people ever "read" the film the same way. What's shocking to one viewer may seem liberating or hilarious to another. In the end, the film not only examines contemporary urban teenage culture, it also calls upon each viewer to reexamine his or her own high school experience. And through this reconsideration of the past as they observe the lives of these students, audiences will gain a moving and deeply personal understanding of what it means to come of age in 21st century America.