'VGHS' set gold standard for tech-y TV, emotional storytelling

If you’re a nerd, you’ve probably thought about how cool it would be to do all the amazing things you can do in video games in the real world. Drive the fastest cars on the planet on some of the most famous tracks in the world? Save humanity from an invasion of aliens who have an obsession with some great big ring in the sky? Rescue a princess from the clutches of an oversized turtle that had too much sriracha for breakfast? All in a day’s play for a gamer.

This is the premise of "Video Game High School" (2012 - 2014). The web series tells the story of BrianD (Josh Blaylock), a teenager who is admitted to the prestigious "Video Game High School" after he (inadvertently) kills the best player in the world: The Law (Brian Firenzi). There, he meets his best friends, Ted (Jimmy Wong) and Ki (Ellary Porterfield), and pursues the girl of his dreams, Jenny (Johanna Braddy). But this world isn’t at all like ours. In it, video games take the place of spectator sports. Instead of NASCAR drivers, you have Drift Kings; instead of rock stars, Axe Legends. The most popular game, though, is "Field of Fire," a first-person shooter. It takes the combined place of football and soccer to become the world’s most prestigious sport and most riveting show -- and BrianD just took center stage.

As the world of technology has advanced, the film industry has had to keep up. How do we portray technology? The internet? When someone receives a text message, how do we read it? In shows like "Pretty Little Liars" (2010 - present) we get slow, dull cutaways to tiny phone screens. In others like "House of Cards" (2013 - present) and "Sherlock" (2010 - present) you have on-screen messages, allowing for uninterrupted screen time for the actor and tighter narratives. So the relevant question is, how do we portray video games? And it is here that "Video Game High School" excels.

In the show, whenever a student sits down to play a game, they literally enter the game. When Brian sits down at his computer and puts his fingers to his keyboard, he simultaneously wraps his hand around the handle of a gun. When his best friend, Ted, picks up a controller to race drift cars, he gets behind the wheel of a 2012 Mustang. It is the realization of every gamer’s dream: to become a part of the worlds of the games we love.

Beside the fact that this is incredibly entertaining and that it is wish fulfillment at its best, this mechanic allows the filmmakers at RocketJump (the company that produces the series) to show off their production value. For an indie production that airs on YouTube and their own site, "VGHS" is ridiculously well done. The visual effects are not only convincing but, in many cases, invisible, which is the goal of every VFX artist. Action sequences are more entertaining than most studio films, and even better, they are emotionally satisfying.

In fact, what "VGHS" does best is emotional storytelling. Season one has a gorgeous story arc of redemption, finding one’s place, proving oneself and (of course, because this is a show about high school) getting the girl. All this sounds cliché -- and it is -- but what "VGHS" manages to do that other shows do not is embrace the clichés.

It takes the trope of “she’s out of your league” and makes her literally out of his league -- Jenny is the FPS JV captain, after all, and Brian only (sort of) wins her over after he proves himself on the Field (of Fire). Jenny isn’t just a placeholder, the prize for doing well, though. She is a fully realized character with depth and a backstory that develops over three season. She is flawed, and is just trying to figure life out; she is a real teenager.

"VGHS" is brave, audacious and silly. It allows its characters to be children, to be ridiculous caricatures, but it also lets them deal with very human issues: insecurity, broken relationships, sexism, addiction and loss. True, it doesn’t go as far as "Degrassi" (2001 - present) -- will any show ever be Degrassi? -- but it takes its own route to finding humanity in its characters.

Fair warning: this show will break your heart. And it will mend it again, and make you laugh and cringe and wish you could go to Video Game High School. And at the end of three seasons, unlike high school, you’ll wish it wasn’t over.

"Video Game High School" is a web series by RocketJump that runs three seasons long, and wrapped in fall 2014. It is available to stream online.