Freddie Wong teleports into the What's Trending studio to talk "VGHS" Season 2, collaborating with Chris Hardwick and Stan Lee, and what's in store for the future of his hit web series.
"VGHS' has come a long way since season 1, having amassed a huge online fanbase and core group of talented creators and collaborators.
"Season 1 was pretty much 'Karate Kid' with video games," Freddie says. "It was basically a movie that we cut up into a web series."
To appease the fans, Freddie and his team changed the formatting for season 2, so that it's chopped up almost like a traditional television series. "When we did season 2, instead of just making it as a movie and cutting it up, let's just do it as a TV show." Every episode in season 2 is roughly 30 minutes long.
This also allowed Freddie to expand upon secondary story lines. "In addition to giving more content out there, it allowed us to do more with the side characters," he says. For example, Ethan, our co-host, obviously steals the show with his Streamy-worthy, three-second performance.
Not to mention, season 2 also features geek gods Chris Hardwick and Stan Lee. "The Nerdist shares our offices now with us," Freddie explains. "That was just a fun thing we cranked out when he was there." As for Stan Lee, after Freddie appears on his "Cocktails with Stan" series, he asked the comic book legend to return the favor and be a part of "VGHS."
"The other thing that we're doing is shooting we're the action sequences in-game at 48 frames-per-second," Freddie says of filming the new season, citing "The Hobbit" as an inspiration for this technique. "It makes the video game sequences look more fluid, hyperreal [...] I think we're the only people who have ever done that."
So, now that Freddie has the attention of the Internet, fans want to know how he came up with the idea for "VGHS" in the first place. "Back in 2009, before even the YouTube channel, I was producing independent, bad, direct-to-DVD movies," he says. "It's basically 'Sharknado,' like that type of stuff." He was talking with his friends from USC when someone suggested a hilarious idea for Freddie - a show with the title, "Video Game High School."
After kicking around different concepts, he finally solidified something worthy of going into production. "It was originally very different from what this was," he says. What they were sure of was that it was going to be funny. "Gaming's not serious for us."
Apparently, many viewers and supporters agree with them, as Freddie and the RocketJump team are now looking at expanding the "VGHS" empire even further.
"Season 3 is being worked on literally right now," he reveals.
Keep your eyes on the RocketJump site for more information and new episodes of "VGHS"!
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