- (FBE) So Bo, Elsie, it's really great having you here
to talk about your amazing film. - Thank you.
♪ (cute intro) ♪
- (Kayla) Hey, guys, it's Kayla, back with another video.
- (Krishcelle) Oh, I've seen this trailer.
It always pops up on my Instagram. - Yes, targeted marketing!
Everyone loves a sponsored post.
It doesn't make you resent the movie at all.
- Everyone comments on it. They like it.
- They love it.
- (Kayla) ...being yourself. - (Alex) Oh, is this Eighth Grade?
- (Anita) Is this, like Eighth-- - They know.
- (Anita) I think I've seen it before.
- (Kayla) Being yourself is, like-- - Oh, this kid. Jackson.
- (laughing) - (Anita) Facts!
- "Facts!" - (laughing)
- (Kayla) I don't talk a lot at school.
- (Anita) Me neither. Me neither, girl.
- Aww. - (Kayla) But if people talk to me
and stuff, they'd find out-- - You know, this kid is stone faced.
- I want to know what he's thinking.
- (Kayla) By the way, I like your shirt a lot.
It's, like, so cool. - (girl) What?
- (laughing) - (Dash) This is really awkward.
- (both laughing) - It is really awkward.
- (dad) I said one more week of eighth grade, right?
- (Kayla) Yeah.
- That kid in the yellow.
- (Alex) I heard that Bo Burnham directed this movie.
- Well, he seemed psyched.
- (woman) It's gonna be lit. - (Jackson snorting)
- Yes! We got the-- that's the best you can get
out of a child-- - Is a laugh.
- Is a little exhale out of their nose when they go (snorting).
- (Alex) This is kinda accurate-- - I'm glad it's accurate.
- (Alex) ...at my school.
- (Dash) It's good, but it's so much anxiety.
- (Jackson) This seems like a depressing movie
that I'd have a hard time watching. - Yeah, that's all right, bud.
You don't have to watch it. - That's true.
- (Kacey) I'm going into eighth grade, so this is kinda stressing me out.
- Awww, don't be stressed out.
It's fine.
- (Kayla) ...and that's what makes things exciting and scary and fun.
- (laughing)
- (Jackson) I'll probably watch it, actually.
- Yes! - Aww, yellow.
Come on, baby.
- (Kacey) ...it feels like they're trying too hard to be relatable,
but here, they actually understand what it's like.
- Oh, oh, I thought they were saying we were.
I was like, "Eh, it's all good."
- (Krischelle) ...get the most likes, who could get the most follows,
who could get the most comments.
It's kind of like a competition and you always have
to, I guess, present yourself and make yourself look good
for other people's enjoyments, not for yourself.
- That's pretty smart.
- (FBE) ...Burnham and the main star of the film, Elsie Fisher,
so you can get a little more background.
- This is a twist. Oh, my god! The View!
- (Haines) ...the role of social media is in all of those struggles?
- (Elsie) I think it makes us much more self-aware.
- (Alex) That's true. It does make you--
- Yeah, you look-- look how poised you look.
- (Elsie) ...leads to a lot of anxiety. - (Anita) Exactly!
- (Elsie) No one's really narcissistic on the internet.
We're all just trying to fit in, I think.
- (Krischelle) That's true.
- It's so weird to hear myself say this stuff.
I never watch the interviews. - (Dash) Yeah.
- (Bo) Performance anxiety and stage fright
has bled into kids' normal lives. - God, that sweater looks good.
- (Hostin) ...what do we need to know about our--
- You know, I've really come around on this guy in the yellow.
- Mmm. - I think he might be my son.
- (Elsie) ...really just people without money or independence.
- (Kacey) That is really true, honestly.
- I love her. - Yeah, me too.
- (Dash) This outside version of themselves--
- I love this kid. - (Dash) You realize that
everybody is performing all the time and it's not healthy.
- You know what the issue is?
The issue is these kids are so articulate and intelligent.
I'm just actually listening to them.
- (FBE) So today, we're actually going to do something
a little different. - Ooh!
Are we gonna watch it?
- (FBE) Before you came in to shoot today,
we talked to your parents and you are both
going to go see the full movie right now.
- (Alex) Like right now? - Oh, no! Crazy.
l thought we were just reacting to the trailer.
This one's super deep.
Now it's gonna be like, "And now we have a video
of the director's birth from 1990. You're gonna react to that."
This is stressful now because this movie's got stuff in it.
But it's for kids. - It is.
♪ (upbeat music) ♪
- Oh, yellow! Come on, bro.
- They've got them all lined up.
♪ (upbeat music) ♪ - Man, this is intense.
- (FBE) Did you have fun? - (Dash) Yeah, I had a lot of fun.
It was really good.
- (Anita) Cringy, I guess.
I'm pretty sure they were supposed to be cringy, but--
- They were. - Intentional cringe, yes.
When the trailer was posted on YouTube and the principal's dabbing,
people were comm-- - Like, "The dab is dead."
- It's like, yeah, that's why the principal's doing it.
It's supposed to be embarrassing. - We've weaponized cringe.
- Yeah. (laughing) Exactly.
- (FBE) Did you feel that the movie was an accurate description
of how life is for people around your age?
- (Alex) I felt like, for me, it was more accurate to when
I was in sixth grade because, back then, everyone,
like Lebron James, dab, Gucci. No one says that now.
- That's the problem with it.
We recorded-- we made the movie a year ago,
and already, like, "Gucci" isn't-- or Lebron-- I don't even know.
- (FBE) Even though the film focuses mainly on those in eighth grade,
the movie received an R rating for language--
- (Anita) Yeah, and I get why at some parts.
- (FBE) Director Bo Burnham was quoted as saying,
"I didn't want to make it R-rated.
I just wanted to portray the way kids' lives are."
- (Anita) Yeah, and he basically achieved that,
how they talk nowadays.
- (FBE) Do you agree with that--
- Basically, we're gonna put that on the poster.
"He basically achieved that."
- (Dash) Yeah, it's not gonna be worse than what they see in real life.
- (Jackson) It kind of changed my perspective
on how other people think. I'm not in the position
that the main character was in, and it just made me
get a different view on how she thought of stuff
and what she thought was right to do to be cool.
- Yellow, my boy.
- I'm rooting for him. - This kid's woke.
Or he's having his "awokening."
- (FBE) There's a scene a lot of people are talking about
where the main character Kayla is in the car with an older teenager.
- Yeah, ooh. - (Dash) That was so uncomfortable.
- (Kacey) I didn't want to see whatever happened next.
I was like, "Oh, please, just get on with the movie.
I don't want to watch this. I'm watching with my mom over here."
- (laughing)
- (FBE) Is that something that you'd ever worry about potentially happening?
- (Alex) Yeah, that's why I always-- if I'm going to get a ride
from someone, I have to know then, so then I don't die.
- (Kacey) That's not necessarily something--
- Get a-- know the person before you get a ride
or you will die.
- (FBE) From your perspective, what makes someone popular?
- (Jackson) You definitely have to be social.
You can't be always in the corner at a party.
- (Kacey) The type of people--
- You know, some people don't even make it to the party
to be in the corner.
- (Krishcelle) They could just be a nice person
who's confident in themselves, who's nice to others,
respects one another and is generally a good person
who focuses on themselves and cares about others.
You don't necessarily have to be a snobby--
- Is she like a congressman or something?
She's very articulate.
- (FBE) Finally, in the movie, Kayla often films videos
of herself, sometimes leaving herself videos to watch when she is older.
- (Kacey) Yes! YouTube queen!
- (laughing) - "Yes!"
- "YouTube queen!"
- (FBE) So if you could, what would you want to say
to your future self when you are finished with school?
- (Alex) How bad did you do in school?
If you did bad, I saw it coming.
- (Jackson) I hope I-- - (both laughing)
- (Jackson) ...like I'm doing right now
because I love life right now and how everything's going for me...
- You go, man! - (Jackson) ...so I just kinda want
to keep it that way. - Yeah, bro, you know,
I underestimated you.
- (Krishchelle) Stick with your friends.
Be happy.
And then college is right around the corner,
so, like, you have time to make new friends,
you have time to experience things and just to enjoy yourself, basically.
- Wow. Those are real children, man.
- I don't get to see a lot of eighth graders.
I stayed in my age group and then I was aware of my brothers,
which was four years younger than me.
- Right, but you don't know the kids that are between
you and your brother? - Yeah, yeah.
No, and it's really cool to see that.
- It's easier for kids that graduated eighth grade,
to watch that movie than kids going into eighth grade.
- Yeah, because going into eighth grade and watching this
can be very intimidating.
- (FBE) What was it like to see actual eighth graders
react to your film? - It's funny.
Well, it's like... it's interesting because it's own meta context as well.
I'm saying you have to be aware that they're not just reacting.
They're on camera, reacting to an invisible audience,
which is super meta for this movie because this is about a girl
performing for a meta audience.
- It was just very cool for me to see actual eighth graders react
because we've had the pleasure of doing some Q and A's,
where we've had eighth graders ask questions and stuff,
but this was just a little more of an in-depth look
into how they're processing it, and I think it's really cool.
And I think people don't realize how much eighth graders
or just kids in general actually think.
I think, especially in middle school, kids are still-- I mean,
teens, whatever, are still treated very much as children,
but we just watched them articulate and people have come up to me
and said, "Oh, my god, you're such a smart articulate person."
And I'm like, "I'm not an exception, though."
That is a lot of kids, I think.
- I wasn't trying to make something for eighth graders at all.
I was thinking when it's made for eighth graders,
to me, it feels pandering and feels-- or aspirational,
and I didn't want to do that.
I wanted to capture what they were and hopefully maybe they like it.
That's my problem with stuff about teens.
It's clearly made for teens, which is not the same
as making something truthful, I think, necessarily.
- (FBE) So the film has gotten an incredible reception
from everybody, audiences, critics, and everything.
What was it like to have the film be so well-received like this?
- It's insane because of the fact that we had so much fun making it.
If you have that much fun making something--
- It's gonna suck, yeah. - It has to suck
because that's how life works. - Yeah, of course.
- So the fact that it's had such a positive "receival."
(laughing) Shut up! - "Reception."
You know what? - Reception!
- I'm trying to get-- I'm getting really bad "receival" in here,
but I think--
But, yeah, (laughing) it's been great.
It's been truly amazing.
- See, I told you, I'm not an exception.
- (laughing) Yeah, exactly.
- (FBE) So, Bo, you started out on YouTube
long before YouTube was a business.
- I still didn't really figure out how to use it as a business.
- (FBE) Can you talk about what the online support has been
from on the creators and stuff, especially when it pertains
to this movie? - That's been incredible.
Because I was always worried that I seemed like,
"Oh, this person did YouTube and then left."
And it was like, "Yes, screw YouTube. I'm gonna make real stuff."
I never felt that way.
I wanted to perform live stuff, so it didn't make sense for me
to make YouTube videos anymore.
And I still love YouTube.
I still watch YouTube all the time. - Oh, of course.
- It's been incredible. It's been just so kind of them
because I want to be doing right by them.
I'm hoping to do right by the internet.
I'm happy to be a YouTuber making a movie,
you know what I mean?
I think there's a bad sort of thing where people make YouTube
some sort of slur. We're embarrassed to be YouTubers
or whatever, but I'm proud of that, and I'm happy to have come
from the internet. - Yeah.
- I would never be where I was without YouTube.
And not only that, this movie is what it is because of YouTube.
This movie started because of watching videos of kids
with 10, 20, 30 subscribers online, talking about themselves.
YouTube, to me, is the greatest resource for humanity.
We wanted to make a movie about kids that don't go viral.
The majority of people posting stuff on the internet are not being seen,
and they are also interesting and worthy.
- (FBE) One of the things, you know, we spoke to the eighth graders about
is the fact that the film is R-rated, but is depicting the lives
of, you know, those who are too young to go see an R-rated film.
- Unaccompanied, yeah.
- (FBE) You guys have helped organize free screenings and stuff
to allow kids to come see the film without enforcing the rating.
Do you that movies like yours will help shape the way
that we think about ratings in the future,
especially as it pertains to young people?
- Hopefully.
- My thing is that kids should be exposed to more.
That's not the truth.
- Let them see what they're already exposed to.
- Yes, exactly.
The internet is X-rated and they have unfiltered access to it--
- Like, they're giving young, young children iPads
and just YouTube, and that's arguably so much worse.
- (FBE) I'm sure all the kids who were in this episode
are gonna end up watching this episode,
so what would you want to say to the eighth graders
who reacting to your film? - You guys are very smart people.
- Yeah-- - Honestly, though, actually.
- Yeah, and very cool and-- yellow, I loved you, dude.
- And it's really nice to hear genuine opinions on this movie
from actual eighth graders. - Yeah.
- Yeah, yeah.
- I think it'll be fun to watch the movie in five years, too,
when you're 18 and see what you think.
Be free, kids. Don't do school.
Stay in drugs. - (giggling)
- Hi, I'm Bo Burnham. - And I'm Elsie Fisher!
- Thanks for having us, FBE. It was a lot of fun, wasn't it?
- It was very fun.
- Please go see our movie Eighth Grade in theaters.
- Now. - (softly) Yes!
Money!