Read on Twitter
One of the strangest but most satisfying journeys of my life as a filmmaker has been watching the public opinion of VGHS slowly shift over the course of over eight years now. A little insight behind the scenes...
When VGHS S1E1 first came out, I really cannot express how much people fucking HATED it.
Internet forums, Reddit, the comments - people loved our action shorts on the YouTube channel. They thought this show was corny garbage.
Internet forums, Reddit, the comments - people loved our action shorts on the YouTube channel. They thought this show was corny garbage.
Those first two episodes, our mood was pretty low. I think we were all afraid we were making something bad and were looking down the barrel of seven more weeks of that. There were, of course, people who loved it from the jump, but that crowd was drowned out.
We used to joke we should've made a show called "Hardcore Gamer Academy." Same premise but SLICK and BADASS.
But that made no sense to us creatively - in our minds, while video games make you FEEL cool, they're SILLY. Any attempt to be slick and cool felt totally dishonest.
But that made no sense to us creatively - in our minds, while video games make you FEEL cool, they're SILLY. Any attempt to be slick and cool felt totally dishonest.
The show didn't click until S1E4 when we laid down the amazing music of @Protomen underneath the drift sequence. I remember editing that moment, and finally feeling, despite the jank and the seams, there was something happening here that felt special.
Still, a lot of people absolutely hated it, and were more than happy to let us know that every week. The rest of the internet ignored us. At the time, a big source of traffic was gaming blogs like Kotaku, who wrote about our shorts, but barely mentioned VGHS.
Despite the popularity of a series dealing with esports and video games, the sole article we got was: "It Doesn't Get Much Cornier Than a Series Called Video Game High School" https://kotaku.com/493945451
That was it for all three seasons. Yes, we were not cool enough for Kotaku!
That was it for all three seasons. Yes, we were not cool enough for Kotaku!
But the show started getting passed around and finding its audience as we developed as filmmakers. Our growth from S1 to S3 in terms of finding a directorial voice is plainly visible. Our awkward artistic development is basically laid bare online!
By the time S3 wrapped up, we had finally found our audience, but the nature of online video means you never really "see" them. We would toil to get episodes out on time every week, the reception experienced solely as metrics and comments on screen.
Weirdly enough, I think the first indication that the show actually meant something to people was seeing screenshots from online games of players with handles referencing characters from the show. Being able to premiere S3 at NYCC was another eye popping moment.
In the years since it's been immensely gratifying to hear from people who consider it a formative show of their youth (also wild to see people defending the show!) Of course, we get to bask in the glow of nostalgia now, but early on we never wouldn't thought it would get there.
We are eternally grateful to the tremendous cast and crew (and crowdfunding supporters!) that came together for a few years to help create this very strange show that reached millions.
And of course - blown away by all you who took the show and made it your own. Thank you!
And of course - blown away by all you who took the show and made it your own. Thank you!
