Interview with Gatze Zonneveld on Manfred Pumpkin Bread – a 360° puppet show

Manfred Pumpkin Bread is a 360° puppet show all handmade by director and animator Gatze Zonneveld. The friendly neighborhood-monster Manfred is strolling through the forest looking for ingredients to make pumpkin bread. During his wanderings, he meets the other creatures of the forest, but will they help him on his quest? 

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Gatze Zonneveld is an animation filmmaker who has his own boutique animation studio RocknRoll Animation in Utrecht. He makes short films and TV-series, commercials, bumpers, leaders and explainamations for a number of clients. Submarine Channel seized the opportunity to celebrate the online release of Manfred Pumpkin Bread with an exclusive interview with the director.

How did you come up with the story and the characters?

It started with the idea of making a VR or 360° puppet-show. I thought it was a very neat and innovative idea. One of the great things about the 360° idea is that the viewer is placed inside of the puppet world, which makes it so much more immersive! It allows the viewer to look around and they could even uncover hidden secrets. I bounced around between a few different ideas until I remembered this character I drew a couple of years ago. I thought the design could work well as a puppet and so I started thinking about what he could be searching for and why.

The inspiration for the story comes from different picture books that I was reading my son at the time. That is how everything fell into place.

How did you create the material? 

The hand-puppets and the puppet-theatre are handmade. I created 3D-models from the sketches and used latex, fiberfill and fabrics to finish these fluffy hand-puppets. The puppet-theater was completely made out of fabrics. I built the sets fully cylindrical in, so we could prevent the viewers from seeing the puppeteers. 

Who is your favorite character in the story? 

My favorite character in the story has to be Manfred, the main character. I just like these types of monsters and I am very happy how he turned out. His design is just amazing but I especially like the voice-acting by Paul Passchier in the original Dutch version. He brought Manfred’s personality to life and that really set the tone for the whole movie.

The other characters are much quirkier, both in their personalities and in the way they act. They bring a lot of humor to the film. The self-entitled Moose, drunk on his berries and the twitchy, neurotic Hare is scared of what the future will bring. But, most of the kids seemed to like the Mouse the best – a loud-mouthed scoundrel with a bit of a Napoleon complex.

What would be the perfect Christmas gift for Manfred?

I think Manfred already got the perfect Christmas gift from Submarine in the form of this English dub! We’re all really happy to be able to share Manfred – Pumpkin Bread with the world and what could be better than releasing it on Christmas morning.

What would Manfred make for Christmas?

I think Manfred is in deep hibernation during the holidays, but should he wake up hungry for a little snack, he would probably make a nice big cup of hot cocoa, with a dash of cinnamon and some cranberries. That would definitely get him in the Christmas spirit and send him right back to sleep.

Do you have any tips for young animators?

My main advice for young animators is to work hard, experiment and learn as much as you can, while also making sure you look after yourself physically, mentally and socially. Without a healthy and balanced work-life, you can’t create good quality in the long term.

Anyone who wants to create a short film can check out De Ontmoeting. They made it possible for me to create Manfred – Pumpkin Bread and they’re an awesome group of people to work with.

What are your plans in the future in the field of VR? 

I’m working hard at developing my first animated feature film while doing some client work to pay the bills, of course. So VR is taking a back seat right now, but I have a couple of VR ideas I’d love to develop further in the future. One of which is a VR children’s series I’m talking about with Submarine, based on what we developed for Manfred.

The Making of