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While many incoming Miami University students boast impressive resumes, first-year Ben Parks has the opportunity to add a Moonman Award from the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards to his list of accomplishments.
Along with nine of his high school friends from Chatham, Ill., Parks is competing in the "Best Performance in a Pepsi Rock Band Video" category at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.
In their video, Parks plays along to Lit's hit song "My Own Worst Enemy" as a member of the fictional band Nerds in Disguise. As the song plays in the background, the video tells the story of a Saturday night party gone awry after a group of "nerds" invade with a large supply of Pepsi products, one of the sponsors of the contest.
Parks also served as an associate producer on the video and collaborated with director Matt Hartzler to make the group's vision a reality.
"We bounced ideas off each other for certain shots and what to film in certain scenes," Parks said. "I helped film sometimes when Matt was in the video, and I was there to bounce ideas off of (him) and come up with some ideas for filming."
According to contest rules, each video was restricted to ten or fewer performers. While the "Nerds in Disguise" video appears to include twice as many actors, each performer actually plays two different characters. After filming the "rockers" and the "nerds" separately at the party, director Matt Hartzler then digitally combined the video clips allowing each actor to appear twice in the same party scene.
"Based on the structure of the contest we came up with the idea for a big party," said Hartzler, a first-year student at Amherst College. "But we realized pretty quickly that 10 people is a pretty lame party (so everyone) played an alter-ego of a nerd and a cool guy who come together to have this big party."
Contest judges chose the "Nerds in Disguise" video and four other finalists from the more than 650 entries that were submitted.
According to Parks, being selected as a finalist still hasn't sunk in.
"It's still surreal because it's a nationwide contest and it hasn't hit me," Parks said. "It's not a really personal thing because it's on the Internet but when you have people all over the country talking about (the video) it's kind of shocking."
Hartzler reiterated the excitement felt by the group as a result of their nomination.
"I wouldn't say all of us are in shock, but it's pretty close," Hartzler said. "I saw myself on an MTV commercial and didn't even react. It really hasn't sunk in yet."
After creating a Yahoo login, the public can vote up to 10 times per day for their favorite video at http://pepsi.yahoo.com until the Sept. 1 deadline.
The winner of the contest will get to walk the red carpet outside Radio City Music Hall in New York City before receiving a Moonman Award from comedian Russell Brand, host of this year's MTV Video Music Awards Sept. 13. The winning group will also be featured in a television commercial during the airing of this year's VMAs.
According to Parks, class will have to take a back seat if the "Nerds in Disguise" video wins.
"Definitely I'm skipping some classes and going to New York and celebrating with my friends," Parks said. "I think I'll be too shocked and it won't really hit me until we go to the actual awards."
