Chris Kennal (Classic Gerosha)

Chris Kennal is a villain in the Ferris Access Channel miniseries Blood Over Water. He was co-created by the Dozerfleet founder and by Star Power Marketing and Entertainment founder / VH1 associate Chris Wilson.

Early history
Chris, born in late 1982, grew up with a mixed family background in northern Georgia. With half his family religious and the other half not, Chris was often confused about what his purpose in life could be. He eventually met Mark Stefflin, and the two of them quickly became best friends.

Both of them in 2006 took a job working for Bob Lusital at the Sleet Mountain Lower Northern bottling plant. While living in the Big Rapids area, Chris also got to know Mark's twin brother Aaron Stefflin - though Mark and Chris seldom spoke of Aaron at work. In Big Rapids, Chris felt he could safely discover himself. He began living out all sorts of hedonistic ambitions, the likes of which he learned from back in Georgia.

Blood Over Water
Main article: Blood Over Water

Chris and Mark had worked together at Sleet Mountain for three years. Somewhere along the way, the new CEO Clyde Spendelworth got greedy and decided that it'd be easier to pollute a pond nearby the bottling company's property rather than actually spend the money on legitimate waste disposal. By engaging in some fraudulent paperwork, Clyde was able to trick the EPA. As such, Sleet Mountain saved itself millions of dollars. He and a small inner network of conspirators stood to benefit directly from this scheme.

Clyde initially called three employees in from Sleet Mountain to partake with him in the conspiracy; and to share in the embezzled funds acquired through cleanup fraud: Chris, Mark, and George. All of them initially went along with the plan, though only out of fear. Mark, deciding that he didn't want to be responsible for such felonious behavior, revealed in confidence to Chris that he wanted no part of the conspiracy; and that he wouldn't accept any bribe money. Knowing how close Mark and Chris were to each other, Clyde decided to have George spy on them. George's eavesdropping revealed that Mark wanted out; and Clyde agreed with George that this was too dangerous: Mark had to die for even suggesting wanting out!

George soon hired a hitman, in the form of Vance Lingolin, to off Mark. However, Vance wound up in an accident in which he himself wound up dead. This failed assassination attempt tipped off Mark even further that somebody wanted him to die, after he took measures to secure some confidential folders - hoping he could take them home and expose the company's plan. Fearful after learning the incriminating documents were missing, Clyde ordered Chris go to Mark's house and personally kill him off for being a snitch; luring a newcomer named Ashley into the conspiracy. Fully aware that she was not someone whom Mark knew very well, Clyde suspected Ashley's ruse to trap Mark would work. Clyde gave orders to Chris to instruct Ashley on how to set a trap. Together, Chris and Ashley successfully killed Mark; but they ransacked his house in vain trying to find the "Confidential" envelope full of folders. Soon afterward, Ashley was never seen again.

What none of them counted on was that Aaron would grow curious as to why Mark didn't call him back on his phone; and that Aaron would go to the apartment and find Mark's folder. Behind Chris' back, Clyde had George lure into the conspiracy his business partner Kyle Tugrass. Kyle was to be there, just in case Chris tried to double-cross everyone.

Chris spends the rest of his time keeping half an eye on Aaron, in the hopes that Aaron doesn't get too close to solving the mystery. Things take a turn for the worst when George and Kyle try to set a trap for Mark (whom they believe Aaron to be, due to not having heard about Aaron before.) This results in them capturing Aaron, and inadvertently exposing everything to him. Amidst their debate about which one of them was to murder Mark (still believing Chris failed his job,) Aaron escapes. This forces Chris to reveal to the other two conspirators that Mark had a twin named Aaron. Also, fearing that they won't trust him, Chris decides that he must earn George and Kyle's trust by agreeing with them to kidnap and murder Aaron.

Secretly, Chris decides that Aaron was an innocent outsider who shouldn't have to die; but he decides he must go along with the plan until the time is right to stage his redemption. Chris is tempted to simply kill Aaron and call it good; but then he realizes that the innocent outsider Monica has been inadvertently dragged into the mess. Unwilling to murder an outside innocent with a family, Chris decides to trick George and Kyle into believing he will go along with Aaron and Monica's execution-style murders. At the last minute, he decides to knock them out instead - and misfire his gun. He takes advantage of George and Kyle being distracted as an opportunity to betray and murder both of them.

He leaves Aaron an apology note for everything, flees with his share of the money, and vanishes. The end credits reveal Chris to be "still at large," as authorities have never had any luck apprehending him.

Personality
Chris is portrayed as being a (usually) calm, rational, calculating individual. He is understood as being very close friends - almost like a brother - to Mark and Aaron. All the same, he is very unscrupulous and greedy when it comes to money.

He is also portrayed to be a bit cowardly, fearful of double-crossing Clyde while his goons George Lawence and Kyle Tugrass are still alive. He is, however; willing to resort to deception, fraud, and even murder to get his hands on a little extra cash. He likes to believe that he can have it all: close friends and family on one hand; while living in greed and villainy on the other.

Development
The character of Chris Kennal began as the brainchild of actor Chris Wilson, who portrayed him in the miniseries. The character's existence emerged every bit as much out of necessity as anything else, in spite at-the-time accusations of narcissism. Someone was needed to play the part of the tall, smooth-talking, friendly associate and company insider whom Aaron trusted. Kyle was all pumped to play a bad guy, and Chris' directorial vision ruled that there had to be two main bad guys plus a CEO villain. Therefore, the Dozerfleet founder was to be cast as George Lawence. This meant that Zach had to fill in as Clyde, with only his obscured back side being shown in order to obscure the fact that it was Zach playing the part. Initially, there were plans for instructors Clayton Rye or Nathan Meadows to play the part of Clyde. Both either declined or were unavailable.

Even as such, Chris didn't show up on screen until the second episode. The first episode featured only two actors: Zach Foster, and an uncredited Ferris DPS officer. While Zach played the part of Aaron Stefflin, the officer played as Officer Brent Yorming. Chris argued that it would be good practice for Zach throughout the miniseries' run, as they needed the star to be the most convincing actor. Chris was as self-conscious and concerned as everyone else in development that his own acting skills were not very great. The Dozerfleet founder's attempts to alleviate the casting issues by sending ads to theater students proved fruitless, thereby forcing everyone in the crew to also serve as cast. Most students, Chris included, preferred being behind the camera to being in front of it.

Chris hinted around the middle of production of Part 2 that he intended for his character to be playing both sides in the struggle. By the end of Part 2, as planning commenced for Part 3, Chris made it clear his character would be a bad guy. However, a final plot twist was worked into Part 4, so that the episode could end happily. This was to be the end of all such efforts to show Chris as riding the fence.

Part 5's writing got very muddy, however. Chris' initial depiction of himself in early shots for part 5 had him callously focused only on money - and on fear of going to jail. His concern for Aaron's welfare, and concern for the fact that he's already now wanted for at least three homicides, was totally absent. Class instructor Nathan Meadows' objected to this, saying that Chris came off as "too cold-blooded." This original ending seemed to contradict Part 4's ending, given Chris seems to care only about his own fate. Meadows required the class to undergo reshoots to fix this problem. In spite the actor's protests, several shots at the end were re-shot to portray Chris as being slightly remorseful about having committed three murders. Outtakes of both ending versions were shown on the blooper reel.

Trivia

 * Chris Kennal's appearance has always been modeled after the appearance of the real-life Chris Wilson.
 * Chris Wilson's real life apartment was 201H at Hillcrest Oakwood Apartments. It was used as Mark's home in the miniseries, as that would have been more convenient than trying to get another house to serve for reshoot purposes.
 * It was deemed more plot-important for Mark to have a home than Chris; so the miniseries doesn't address where Chris lives.
 * To better explain the beginning plot, Mark and Aaron couldn't live in the same house. Aaron was already depicted as living at 516 N. Michigan Ave. - the same rental home that actor Zach Foster was living at during filming.
 * The scene where Mark was done in by Chris was originally supposed to involve fake blood squibs and a fake gun, in which Mark is shot dead after a quick beat-down. Or, a knife and some fake blood squibs.  Another take suggested using Photoshop to add in fake blood, and a fade to black, to show Mark dying from being shot.  Chris decided this posed too much risk of staining the carpet or walls of his apartment, however, and opted to instead depict Mark simply being strangled to death.
 * The comic corrects this, with Chris using a silenced gun to shoot Mark in the head. Since the whole murder sequence initially happens in a video game, scene cleanup is comparatively effortless.
 * The first entry of Chris in the story shows him wearing a Ferris T-shirt, so as to suggest he's a student on campus, while also somehow holding a job at the Sleet Mountain factory. How he could be both, and remain with an athletic build, the miniseries never bothers to address.
 * Given the fictionality of Sleet Mountain, and given that its nearest real life analog was the Nestlé / Ice Mountain bottling plant in Stanwood, and given the class' lack of access to any part of the actual Ice Mountain plant; Sleet Mountain scenes with Chris in them were usually set either inside the FLITE Library or inside of Bishop Hall.