Herald photo by Garret Leiva
'Humbugs Anonymous' will air this Christmas Eve on tctv2, a three-minute short film highlighting the transformation of a devoted scrooge into a lover of Christmas and the Christmas message. Written, produced, directed and shot locally, here Mark Calson of Manistee speaks at a Humbugs Anonymous meeting while Dan Glass, the producer, films the scene and director Matt Kinne looks on.
'Tis the season TV
'Humbug's Anonymous' to air on tctv2 Christmas Day and New Year's Eve
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Mining humor to convey the Christmas spirit of grace and rebirth, a film crew gathered last week to shoot a three-minute short entitled Humbug's Anonymous.
Airing Christmas Day and New Year's Eve on tctv2, the short opens at a meeting of Humbug's Anonymous where John ("Hi John!") shares his story.
Portrayed by actor Mark Carlson of Manistee, John celebrates his two humbug-free years. He relates to the 'meeting' how after a lifetime devoted to spoiling Christmas - the Grinch had nothing on him as he laughed at reindeer games, stole chocolate Santas, snuffed out Christmas candles, bit lips under the mistletoe - John turned over a new leaf.
"I have found the reason for the season, I have discovered 'What Child is This," Carlson intones, near the start of an animated, part-rap passage of the script written by Matt Kinne of Traverse City.
"How did I do it, you ask? I didn't do a thing_It was grace my brothers. Grace," explained Carlson.
At 'Cut' from director Kinne, sniffs all around. The humorous set up of the previous scenes coalesced into the film's central message: the stolen candy canes came back two-fold, rotten eggs in eggnog reaped two dozen fresh eggs, beleaguered elves hugged John. Grace had changed his heart.
Sterile words on a script page came to life in Carlson's rendition, capturing the emotion of Christmas take after take as Kinne and the crew shot close ups and different angles. Each time, Christmas shone through.
"I like making fun of the humbuggers out there," said Carlson, a master control operator for TV7&4 who also acts in commercials and does voice-overs. "It is just the total opposite of my personality."
For Kinne, Humbug's Anonymous launches his idea for a series of what he terms Wisecracker shorts. Think Veggie Tales for the next generation.
"Eventually I want to make a whole line of them and make them available to an audience," Kinne said. "Not quite South Park, not quite Monty Python but the next generation, for people who were weaned on Veggie Tales but are now a little older."
Kinne wants to tackle the Proverbs with his next project. A graduate of the Film School at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va., Kinne previously worked as a movie critic for a Christian film company in Atlanta, Ga. A Petoskey native, Kinne now gives movie reviews on radio station WLJN and also has plans to write a movie lover's daily devotional book.
Kinne believes there is a hunger among the general public for more movies with messages.
"I would say, having worked with World Magazine [a weekly Christian news and commentary magazine], that the movies with a message are the ones that are popular," he said.
Kinne connected with Dan Glass, whose Glass Productions produced the Humbug's Anonymous, while working on the movie Barn Red by Rich Brauer. Their collaboration fuels his determination to continue making Wisecracker shorts.
"I would like to do comedic dramatization of some of the proverbs of the Bible," Kinne said, noting how humor would help get the message across. "The medicine is better when you've got the sugar."
In addition to Kinne and Glass, boom operator Joshua Schaub and script supervisor Hans Schoonover were on hand to make Humbug's Anonymous. Glass also provided the studio, equipment, operated the camera and edited more than 90 minutes of film into three minutes.
Glass is an award-winning independent filmmaker and a commercial producer who worked with TV 7&4 for more than two years. Humbug's Anonymous is just another successful film in his repertoire and he looks forward to capturing more offbeat ideas on film as well as future collaborations with Kinne.
"Anything that's going on around town that's interesting, I just put a camera in front of it and see what happens," said Glass, who founded his production company, Glass Productions, December 1.
"I think tctv2 is such a great resource, it doesn't have to be a half hour, it can be three minutes," he noted. "I think this is fun, just doing this in your hometown."
Humbugs Anonymous will air on Christmas Day at 9:30 p.m. and on New Year's Eve at 11:30 p.m. on tctv2.
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Herald photo by Garret Leiva