Nerds in Disguise

Nerds in Disguise is a group of college students responsible for creating the winning entry in an online MTV contest. They are the first non-recording artist to receive MTV Video Music Awards; the Moonman. These 10 high school graduates, from Glenwood High School, have been friends for most of their life, and have been making videos since their freshmen year of high school. Makers of the video include Matt Hartzler, Jake Giganti, Taylor Blake, Charlie Clausner, Mitch Falter, David O’Brien, Ben Parks, Shane Reynolds, Mike Ranos, and Alec Veldhuizen.
Contest
In May 2009, Pepsi and Rock Band announced that they will be holding a challenge in that whoever can make the most creative music video playing Rock Band will win an all inclusive trip to New York City, where they will get to walk the red carpet, attend the Video Music Awards, get a spread in Spin Magazine, attend the Alexa Chung Show, as well as attend a Kid Cudi charity concert. After 650 submissions and a month and a half later, it was narrowed down to the top five. One month after that the winners, “Nerds in Disguise,” got the call to fly to New York, and to not tell anyone about their win. On September 13, 2009, everyone watching the VMA’s got a glimpse of their video and found out at that the video they had been voting for, won.
Inspiration
Matt Hartzler and Jake Giganti became a part of Glenwood High School's TV news station their freshmen year. They would recruit all of their friends once they had thought of an idea for the next movie they were going to make. The movies that they made, would be to popular songs at the time, and would raise money for their school. The first video that they did was a remix to the song “Go Getta,” and after that first song, they realized that they wanted to continue with what they were doing. Other productions of theirs include a Lil’ Wayne tribute that was ten minutes long, and an “Evolution of Rap” video that they made for their senior prom.
When Matt and Jake heard about the Rock Band and Pepsi challenge, they decided to do it, and recruit all of their friends once again. In the summer of 2009 they began filming for their video, to the song My Own Worst Enemy by Lit. The video brings together two opposites; nerds and rockers. The filming took three days, and took place at Jake’s house. After hours of editing by Matt and Jake, they submitted their video and started their wait until they found out the results. Being the ones who thought of the idea, Matt Hartzler and Jake Giganti were the co-producers of the movie.
Awards
Once they got the call that they were the winners of the Pepsi, Rock Band challenge, they were sworn to secrecy, and had to leave college and classes behind for a week, while they flew to New York and received rock star treatment. They were able to sit in the crowd at Kid Cudi’s charity concert, as well as the Alexa Chung Show, walk the red carpet at the VMA’s and sit in the crowd with all the celebrities during the award show. They received a Moonman, or a video music award, and became the first non-recording artists to hold this prize. In the November issue of Spin Magazine, there was a spread of all of the participants in the video, from a photo shoot that they had during their time in New York City.

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