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It is no secret that college campuses around America are breeding grounds for creativity and innovation, Microsoft and university students created Vista, Xbox and tablet PCs.

Whether university students are looking to change a million lives or simply improve the well being of their own they must first have an idea and inspiration to achieve that idea. But being in college brings opportunities of a different magnitude as well. Living on a college campus allows individuals to associate themselves with potential life-long friends and network in preparation for life after college while producing memories along the way. Just a few weeks ago Scott Simerly Jr., a senior at North Carolina State University was featured as our entrepreneur of the week as he prepared to enter a film into the Campus Movie Fest with his friends Patrick McElroy and Nate Dobbins. The Campus Movie Fest is a yearly competition that has over 100,000 students attending 35 different schools in the United States and the United Kingdom participate. Every team consisting of at least three individuals is provided filming equipment and given a week to produce a film for the contest. The event offers global exposure to students thanks to partnerships with TBS and Turner Classic Movies as well as media coverage from The Today Show, ABC World News Tonight, and CNN to name a few. The group’s movie “Chillachin” won best film overall and the audience choice award at North Carolina State University and will move on to the regional competition in Atlanta, Georgia.

The trio first developed their friendship after meeting each other in their college dorm during their freshman year. “I don’t really know how we first met,” Patrick said. “Just living in the same hall we would hang out and eventually we decided to live together our sophomore year.” With their fun and spontaneous nature many of their films are comedy based. Towards the end of filming Chillachin, the group realized that it is difficult for them to be serious as they felt the movie was more of a drama compared to other films they’ve done. As others viewed the film during the award banquet they saw that others found it a bit humorous but they did not mind.

With Scott always being prepared to capture the moment with his video camera, it surprised no one in his family when he decided he wanted to make video production his career. As the trio got to know each other they discovered that Scott was a communications major and was very talented at making and editing his own video productions. Scott’s earliest experiences came from using “old school” VHS cameras to record productions with friends in which he would take to show at church retreats. Scott began to regularly record films with Nate and Pat and then edited the productions with Final Cut. This is a industry standard software that he originally taught himself how to use and improved his skills by taking digital production classes. After a movie was completed they would regularly premier to an audience of 20 or more of their college friends. The great support from friends would eventually lead to the formation of Scatpat Productions.

The concept of Chillachin actually arose from the silliness that never allows a dull moment amongst the friends. At the beginning of the school year Scott purchased a pet chinchilla. He named it Chingy after a hip hop artist and his cage the “holiday inn” after one of the songs the rapper produced. As a joke, Pat would regularly talk to Chingy in a strange voice using made up words. One day while sitting in class Scott got the idea of what would happen if Chingy talked back to Pat and the two sat down and wrote the script that afternoon in about an hour. When some friends recommended that they enter the Campus Movie Fest they found out more information and decided to enter. “It seemed pretty cool, it is nationally recognized and we film videos for fun anyway so we figured why not enter,” Scott said.

Nate Dobbins, has played a lead acting role in many of Scatpat Productions’ films but he does help as much as possible with filming and editing. His ability to improvise his lines brings many hilarious moments to their video productions. Easy going and laid back by nature he doesn’t feel as if he always has to be the main character in their films. When asked what role he played in Chillachin, Dobbins responded jokingly with, “I was an actor. Since we won I brought a house in Portugal and the Bahamas, oh and I paid off my college tuition and loans.”

When they were selected to the final sixteen at North Carolina State University many of their friends went to the award banquet with them. As they found out they won best film over and the audience choice awards, many of their friends were excited but weren’t really surprised. The fans who were excited the most for the group were their individual families. The overnight fame has not gone to Chingy’s head but he does get a few more raisins on a daily basis. As for the guys an occasional stranger will congratulate them from time to time on their work and discuss other films that were shown at the award banquet.

The next phase of their journey will not take place until March in Atlanta, Georgia, as North Carolina State University was one of the first schools to participate in the Campus Movie Fest this year. In the meantime the group continues to throw around ideas for other movies that can be made. As with any good concept anything that comes to mind is written down and reviewed by the group. “We had plenty ideas of short and long film concepts but we didn’t feel we could pull them off in a week,” Scott said. “Chillachin just came up at the spur of the moment.” The group is currently preparing to film a Kung Fu movie which has made it through their tough selection process.

If their movie wins in Atlanta they will be invited to go to San Francisco for the finals of the film contest but they aren’t looking that far ahead yet. “We are just happy to have the opportunity to see our hard work payoff,” Dobbins said. “You know whatever happens, happens but to us it is just sweet that we made it this far.”

It turns out that making it this far is what college is about. The memories, the laughter and any of those other spontaneous moments that make you appreciate life while having friends to partake in the journey with you. There are many things about life that college kids can’t learn from a book. Sometimes it takes losing yourself to find who you truly are and what you truly want out of life. College life can bring mixed emotions and uncertainties about your future through good and bad times. But a video camera has been a medium to bring three men together, build a lifelong friendship and allows them the opportunity to replay every moment of it. Success doesn’t get any sweeter than that!

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