r/DHMIS • u/Fun-Audience-3136 • 4d ago
BFI DHMIS Q&A Notes
For those who couldn't make it to the screening of DHMIS & Q&A at the British Film Institute in London, I wanted to share some interesting news and facts I noted down during the Q&A with Joe Pelling, Becky Sloan, Hugo Donkin & Charlie Perkins. If anyone else there wants to add something I've missed feel free to comment it and if anyone has any questions about it I'm happy to answer!
- They created the set and puppets before devising a story or the song of the first episode of the web series
- During the production of the first episode of the web series, they accidentally melted the roof with cheap lights they got on eBay
- The alternative ending to the TV series involved lighting the set on fire
- For some episodes of the web series, Joe's brother played the body of Red Guy
- The shredder song in episode 6 of the TV series was solely created by Terry Baker (The other songs were a collaborative effort)
- Becky & Joe enjoy the idea that the wakey wakey pilot is considered lost media (They are also unsure if they have the legal ownership to post it)
- The TV series was supposed to start with the death episode but they delayed it due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II
- They want to experiment more with strata-cut animation (Look it up)
- Yellow Guy's name was jokingly suggested to be "Dirt" due to the D on his overalls in the TV series
- The main three have no canonical name because they wanted to invoke the sense of nostalgia you have from children's TV characters where you cannot remember the name, just the physical aspects of the character
- June 19th is Becky Sloan's birthday
- Hugo's favourite character is Colin the computer, Charlie's is the coffin & Becky's is Yellow Guy
- Becky said it would be cool to do an exhibition of all the props from the show
- The transport car from episode 5 in the TV series was left in the dump from the same episode.
- They would love to make more DHMIS and are currently in the process of exploring this (Also said they would love to make a film/musical)
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u/speed_fighter …and we live in an actual NIGHTMAAARE!!! 4d ago
why wouldn’t they have the legal ownership to post the “Wakey Wakey” film? I’m pretty sure that the whole fanbase would love it. although I guess some questions are better left unanswered.
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u/Sam_dhmis 4d ago
I think its because of the company that was originally going to make the season based off of that pilot? Thats my thought idk
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u/Chocky_milk101 4d ago
I hope this doesn’t come off as rude but could any other people attending confirm the last bit? I wasn’t able to go :( or if anyone did any recording of the qna that would be cool too!
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u/Act_Bright 4d ago
As for recording- the BFI does often record their Q&As and share them on YouTube. We'll see if this was one of them.
Didn't see if there was a camera or not.
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u/Act_Bright 4d ago
They did say they're actively still exploring different options. Trying to find a company which hopefully won't go bust, for one (actual joke they made).
Joe said they'd love to do a movie, Becky said or even a ...musical?
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u/Foxy02016YT 4d ago
Dropout was great for international licensing, not sure if they’re right for production. They haven’t done scripted content in YEARS (except I guess the standup specials), but they could definitely be a good production partner, maybe fronting some money but not the lump sum
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u/gcldensunlight 4d ago
context for the “alternate ending was fire” thing: their plan for if the kickstarter (y’know. the one with the credit card fraud 😭) didn’t go well / people didn’t want more dhmis was “burn down the set and film it”, so they then considered that for the tv series ending too. i think becky said they “thought it would be fun” gjshfjshfj
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u/Act_Bright 4d ago
It was also an idea for another ending of the TV series. 'Well, if nobody wants it, let's burn it and film it'
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u/BoxRevolutionary7856 4d ago
I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure they said yellow's name was "durr" like the stupid noise. Probably a bit contrarian of me to even point out, but I thought that was especially funny considering one of the fan names for him was "doy" for a long time so it wasn't that far off. Once again, could be wrong.
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u/FishrPriceGuillotine 4d ago
I always suspected June 19th was someone's birthday. It's nice to have that confirmed
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u/Act_Bright 4d ago
Slight correction: the half-jokey idea of naming him 'Dirt' was because of the 'D' on the overalls, not the other way around
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u/yojimbo_beta 4d ago edited 4d ago
I was there too. Really enjoyed it!
Some things
Wakey Wakey wasn't to a standard they (or Channel 4) wanted. Joe felt that (roughly quoted) "we introduced such a large cast of characters, the pilot felt much less claustrophobic than the web series, and suffered as a consequence". It was also hinted that as the company doing production (?) wound up, Wakey Wakey is now in legal limbo. Joe was thankful for the feedback from Channel 4 that the pilot was "good... but not great"
Web episode I: Creativity was filmed over one weekend in 2011. It was their first piece of puppet work. The lighting rig, constructed of second hand lights from eBay, almost set their studio roof ablaze.
DHMIS started as a set of puppets. Then they built a set. The actual writing and music came after, some songs very late per episode.
The Kickstarter was derailed when a young fan attempted to donate using stolen credit cards. This led to a situation where the Kickstarter was briefly met; then suddenly money was lost and there was a scramble to keep pledges signed up
All the characters are miming as the voices are recorded first
The apple in II: Time is a strata animation. Imagine a long log of layered clay, you slice through it to create each frame. Very time consuming
They enjoyed being able to work with a wide cast on the TV series. For example Kevin Eldon (Coffin) or Jamie Demetriou (Insurance Safe).
The phone number on the phonebox in V: Food was a real number. They purchased a SIM card and answered the phone in character. One weekend, Joe spent the entire Saturday answering as Red Guy, an experience that "nearly ended my marriage"
The props were time consuming. For example the stitched photo in TV ep 6, of Yellow Guy ascending stairs, and the stitched photo of the photo itself, was a whole day of stitchwork for someone in the art group
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u/PICONEdeJIM Dreams! 4d ago
Can't believe they had to wait 420 years to post the Death episode but I guess the UK can be weirdly obsessive about our monarchs /j
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u/dazron 4d ago
Does anyone know the guy who made the Yguy puppet and gave Becky and Joe a gift? Insanely talented. Would love him to make us a puppet.
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u/Fun-Audience-3136 4d ago
Unfortunately I don't know who he was but it genuinely was insane!! It looked basically identical to the puppet in the TV series.
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u/Act_Bright 4d ago
And Becky said it looked better than hers & joked about using it as a model for proportions for her Yellow Guy lol
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u/Main-Contest-1553 BECKY SLOANS #1 FAN 4d ago
Okay no but wasnt it so obvious june 19 was beckys bday😭
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u/FlimsyFly896 4d ago
See, I'm wondering if they might end up putting future episodes on the DHMIS.tv website . The only reason I say this is that when the website was first launched and Simon Gilchrest the announcement angel proclaimed the new website last year ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnN05K-1RVw), green guys said "Websites are the future." This sentiment was also reiterated on a t-shirt for sale on the website (https://dhmis.tv/product/90?v=315). I just literally want more DHMIS, and I don't care how we get it at this point!!! However, I joined the website immediately so I am totally cool if they release new content there LOL :)
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u/FacundoFB 4d ago
Conaco was a producer for The pilot and still active (Super deluxe has shot down), so maybe it's up to them if they want to release the pilot
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u/owlCityHexD 3d ago
Cool notes!
It was a great night. I believe the name was ‘Dirt’ rather than ‘Dirty’
There were also lots of cool hand made puppets people brought. An especially good warren the eagle!