When junior communication major Scott Perry transferred from Pierce Community College to WSU in January 2008, he felt a little awkward.

The new setting inspired his movie, “A Light Behind Brandon Tripp,” which recently took third place at the WSU Independent Film Festival.

“A lot of times when you walk into something like a job or a university, you just seemed a little overwhelmed with buildings that are taller than you and funny things like that,” he said.

“A Light Behind Brandon Tripp,” is the story of a freshman who’s having a tough time adjusting to college. In the movie’s first scene, Perry, wearing a dark sweatshirt, is sitting in a chair looking grouchy outside of Rogers Hall.

For the first three minutes, he walks through the residence hall and is seemingly caught off guard by every little nuance around him. He calls his parents multiple times, demanding to cancel his enrollment. They refuse.

As the film progresses, Perry has a collection of awkward encounters with people in the hall. The film is shot in various rooms inside of the hall and different areas around campus.

Richard Taflinger, a WSU assistant professor of communication and one of the three festival judges, said he was impressed with how the film was visualized and the sense of depression and loneliness it captured. He also said Perry’s ability to underplay the character was impressive and fitting for the film’s tone.

“There were some very creative shots that told what was happening without dialogue,” he said. “You got what was going on in his mind through the way we saw him, not what he’s telling us.” Perry began filming the movie in February 2008. From the get-go, he said he wasn’t happy with the script, which he said was the most difficult part of production.

For the next year, Perry, with the help of a few friends, picked up the camera from time to time as he meticulously pieced the 14-minute film together. Sometimes, the pieces just fell into his lap.

On one typical snowy day last winter, Perry spotted an igloo outside of Rogers Hall at about noon.

Perry and his girlfriend sprinted from his room and asked the people who built the igloo if he could use it for his movie.

“I figured nobody else would have an igloo in the film festival,” he said.

Perry said shooting film is about being patient and waiting for the perfect setup.

“I’ll go in below freezing temperatures just to get a single shot, as long as the camera works,” he said.

Before making the film, he said he had been on a foreign film craze, which inspired “A Light Behind Brandon Tripp.” Perry said he prefers creating movies where the environment is more important than the dialogue, such as in “Jaws,” his all-time favorite.

But for Perry, the most important aspect of film making is creating something personal to the director that involves character study. Another one of his favorite films is “Taxi Driver.” Perry, a shy but social person, said though he did look forward to coming to WSU, he could relate to Brandon Tripp’s character.

“‘A Light Behind Brandon Tripp’ is my feelings amplified,” he said. “It’s about finding a way out when you are trapped.” The movie was not Perry’s first film-making venture. He said he has made about 20 short films on his own during the past few years, as well as his job producing and editing “Always on the Movie” for Cable 8.

“I like acting, but I think about it as a secondary because my main passion is behind the camera and directing the actors,” he said.