Christmas movies provide us with the break we need from the season’s business, often with a comforting storyline and predictable happy ending. Families across Mississippi and the country are invited to experience Steal The Naughty List this holiday season. This charming stop-motion Christmas film blends adventure, humor, and heartwarming messages in a unique story about the real Saint Nicholas. The best part is that it was homegrown and filmed in Mississippi.
Nathan VonMinden, his wife Meleice, and their six children created this feature film. The holiday movie, “Steal the Naughty List,” took four years for their family to complete. There are lessons in the film and lessons learned by the VonMindens working together, preserving, and collectively having the desire to spread an optimistic message.
“If we had known how hard it was going to be when we started, I doubt we would have, ” said Nathan VonMiden.
If you visited the VonMinden family at their home in Brandon, MS, you’d find a full-blown stop-animation film studio on the second floor. Upstairs Studio Animation is the name of VonMinden’s home studio and production company. The family and 12 hired animators used their creative talents, time, patience, and excruciating attention to detail to bring “Steal the Naughty List” to life.
“We couldn’t have made this film seven years ago,” shared VonMinden. “3D printing was too expensive, with less quality than you have now.”
Technology helped, but so did painstaking attention to detail and a lengthy process. All the sketches were hand-drawn, with temp audio and temp music. The sketches were then sent to a puppet designer, who returned hundreds of 3D characters to be used throughout the filming. After printing them from a 3D printer, they put the puppets and sets together and painted each piece of the finished silicone.
“Each shot could easily take three or four days to animate,” explained VonMinden.
Over the four years, the project experienced setbacks and challenges. Working within a family dynamic can also be challenging and emotionally stressful. The VonMindens reached out to world-renowned stop-motion animation artist Justin Rasch for help getting back on track. The family also enlisted notable names to voice the characters like Brian Hull, the star of “Hotel Transylvania,” musician and actress, Mary Sarah, comedian Bob Smily, and Kevin Sorbo, the star of the late 1990s TV show, “Hercules.”
This Christmas, you and your family can follow a group of Arctic characters as they embark on a perilous adventure across the frozen tundra, facing avalanches, blizzards, and wolves, to steal the naughty list from Saint Nicholas. And be reminded of the values that make the Christmas season so meaningful.
“It’s a story of redemption, second chances, and the idea that we can all change for the better,” shared VonMinden.
Available now on iTunes, Amazon, Google, Fandango, and Faith Channel, the movie promises to become a seasonal favorite for audiences of all ages.
