Video Game High School (VGHS) is set for a second season thanks to more than $800,000 pledged to start the massively popular series. That makes it the most funded Film & Video project on Kickstarter. The series combines the elements of first person shooting games with teen drama. There is plenty of comedy, essentially the same formula that Rocket Jump has excelled with and will seek to build upon in season two.
This time around VGHS will feature more full episodes targeting 22 minutes as a run time. Of course, Freddie Wong and the Rocket Jump crew would remind us that they are really shooting to set themselves apart from the major producers. One sure way to see this difference is to look at the budget breakdown bringing in the relative costs of other productions. Notably The Walking Dead which comes in at $6.8 million normalized by a run time of 44 minutes compared to VGHS with $0.6 million for roughly 9-minute episodes.
The rest of the information shared by Rocket Jump is much more extensive than most shows and movies provide, and a fun read in their infographic. One stat that looks paltry, but is always a big deal here at Videomaker is the money spent on cameras, and while Sony provided a big boost in this category, it's truly amazing to see how more money was spent on food and transportation than pre-production or production equipment!
The strange number of $636,010 as their funding goal is what they spent on VGHS season 1, with that goal well covered, VGHS season two should be sheer joy for many gamers, k-drama fans and visual effects enthusiasts and many other audiences.
This post wouldn't have happened without one of our workshop attendees pointing to Freddie Wong as inspiration (you know who you are)!
Jackson Wong is an associate editor for Videomaker.
