From 48 Hours to Bad Jelly: The Mukpuddy Journey

Posted 10th September 2025

Mukpuddy Animation Studios, the ambitious Tāmaki Makaurau-based team bringing beloved classics like Bad Jelly the Witch to a new generation, didn't achieve their creative success overnight. Decades of work have culminated in realizing their dreams, but the foundation was built on collaborative effort.

They honed their skills—perfecting world-building, nailing character design, and mastering the art of working with voice actors—ultimately sharpening the teamwork that defines their studio today.

We sat down with the team to dive into their history with the 48Hours and the unique pressures of animating a film against the clock.

Hear firsthand how the intense pressure of the deadline taught them to trust their instincts and hammered home a crucial lesson: how important a good team can be, and how that working relationship can continue to create magic long after the competition ends!

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1. What was the best thing about taking part in 48Hours?

For us, the best part of filmmaking has always been the start of an idea. The spark that leads to a brainstorm, which leads to a story, then to initial character designs or concepts and gags etc. So, when it comes to the 48Hours, the best thing is getting to put aside whatever you're currently working on and getting to create something unexpected, unplanned and brand new in the space of an evening. Given how well the three of us work together creatively, we always relished the challenge of trying to make something absurd and ambitious in just a couple of days, which at the time was very different to our day to day job making animated shorts for What Now.

2. What did it mean to your team to win awards?

Because our focus during a 48Hour weekend was just to have a tonne of fun and make something we were genuinely proud of, the idea of placing or winning, was never on our minds. As cheesy as it might be to say, ending up with a finished film was reward enough. In saying that, winning trophies was damn cool, as was being a Sir Peter Jackson Wildcard pick! Getting into the finals was always incredibly validating, then actually winning/placing was the icing on the cake really. At that point in our careers, it sometimes felt like our work was seen or relegated to some "easy to make "throw-away" kids content", so to be recognised alongside other really great local indie filmmakers was an enormous confidence boost.

3. Why would you recommend others register a team next year?

Firstly... it's fun! Secondly, If you're passionate about filmmaking, whether an already somewhat established professional or a newbie, why wouldn't you want to muck around with your mates on a random weekend and make something fun together?! Also, it's always an amazing crash course in not second guessing yourself, and finding the people you work best with. When you find your people, magic happens. 

4. Any favourite memories, behind-the-scenes moments, or lessons learned?

The year we entered with our film  'Meanie Pants', we made the "clever and artistic" choice to make our entire film without any sort of score, instead we would just have ambient sound fx etc throughout. By the time Sunday morning rolled around, we watched an assembly cut for the first time and had a medium-massive freak-out because the film just didn't work without music. It was garbage. So in a frenzied panic, we VERY quickly set about recifying that "bold choice" with some amazing production music, and ended up handing in something we were pretty proud of in the end. Lesson learnt! We love a good film score and it just hammered home how important a good score can be, not only for setting a tone but telling a story and taking the audience on a journey.

5. Any tips, tricks, advice for aspiring animators/filmmakers wanting to give it a go?

As we've only ever submitted animated films before, we can only speak from our own experience, but one big tip would be, if you're attempting an animated entry, is to try to lock down your script, storyboards and animatic on the Friday night.

Just so you can hit the ground running on Saturday morning going straight into final voice recording (if it's necessary) and animation. Also working with a team is fun, and collaboration is key but make sure to put ego aside and let the ideas that serve the film best float to the top.

Also communication! Make sure the people down the pipeline know what's coming and when. Surprises under pressure are never the fun kind, so keeping other crew members up to date with everything is always helpful. 

Don't miss the second series of 'Night Eyes' created by Muk Puddy, a horror-comedy for kids, dropping on TVNZ+ on October 30th – just in time for Halloween!