@brainhem - @Aalasteir (Q) - Index

- Introduction

I love animation because its able to expand your imagination in ways that live action isn't able to. The exagerated enviroments and characters in animated works are able to bring things like comedy and horror to a whole other level. Essentially you aren't restricted to the confines of reality in any way. This is important for me, because what I love about writing is its abiltity to teach you things about yourself and the world around you. But in order to do that I have to dive further into things bothering or exciting me then I can do in the real world. I also just love words... massive yapper if you couldn't tell.

The types of stories that I like to share are ones that are emotional and heavy. I like thinking about the nature of existence and what it means to be human. I'm very interested in dreams, philosophy and conversations between people that feel as if it's a private moment and you shouldn't be listening. That and I always try and be funny... because I'm sort of a funny person I think (in all senses of the word)

Q: What is "Can Anyone Hear Me?" How did you come up with the idea and what was your process for creating it ?

A: ‘Can Anyone Hear Me?’ is a short comedy/drama film that follows a cartoonist named Gus who wants to make it in the industry. It’s mostly conversational and was written, animated and composed by myself. I came up with the idea after hearing countless stories of artists being treated poorly, with the main examples being Ub Iwerks (revolving the creation of Mickey Mouse) and Petra Collins (whos style was allegedly plagiarised for the show Euphoria) I chose to work on this for my year 12 high-school film subject. The process for creating it began with me designing key characters that I knew should be involved, then writing the script and finally animating it in three weeks. 

Q: How did you learn to animate?

A: During the covid-19 pandemic! At this time I still thought I was going to be a live action filmmaker, but I wanted to learn to animate for fun anyway. I used original characters from the beginning but would attempt lip-syncing them to existing music. 

Q: What is the story of you creating "The Quest for the Cigarette?"

A: I really badly wanted to make a film, at the time I really didn’t know how but I figured the best way to learn was to just start. I started making it at the end of 2023, and would take breaks to work on shorts. I really loved stories like alice in wonderland and the wizard of oz, mix that with me getting really into david lynch and you’ve got essence of it. If I make a project this long or longer again then that’ll be all I focus on, just because I didn’t love jumping back and forth with stuff. I’m sure I'll make a film again but I'm not forcing it, I’m just gonna let stories be as long as they should be. 

Q: Your experiences with the Internet?

A: I really loved youtube growing up, I’ve been making and uploading different types of videos to it since I was very young. I can remember watching the super cute mario bros and stuff like that and I thought it was pure cinema. I also would watch really violent and crude videos that I loved and would show to my parents who were always repulsed and banned me from the internet after seeing them. As an adult I find youtube quite a troubling place at times but still love it for all the talented artists i’m able to find, I just wish art was treated more seriously there and had a better chance at doing well next to all the slop. 

Q: The story of your username: brainhem

A: Brainhem was not my first username and I remember always struggling to come up with one. Originally I started uploading videos under the name ‘Shower Animations’ because I was in the shower and it was all I could think of. That got old pretty quickly so I was going back and forth with my friend about what name I could use and at one point he said ‘The Brain Hemorrhage.’ And I only went with it because I thought it looked funny with my profile picture at the time which was an inflatable horse. Then one day youtube added username @’s and I felt like I should create a name that was easier to remember, so I decided on shortening it to ‘Brainhem.’ I like the name brainhem for myself because I feel like it reflects my content well. It’s a little shocking, weird, and funny, which probably sums up my art pretty well. 

Q: How did you discover NG, and why did you join?

A: I’ve always known about newgrounds because alot of my favourite animators started here, creators like David Firth (salad fingers) and Jason Steele (charlie the unicorn). I never joined though and I’m not sure why. That was up until recently, after I told my friend I wish there was a place where artistic films were pushed over what’s most popular on youtube, causing him to tell me that I should join newgrounds. 

Q: What is it like living in Australia?

A: I don’t like it to be honest. I mean I’m doing alright but there are people here who are suffering so I don’t think it's guaranteed this place will look after you. I don’t like hot weather, I love rain! When it’s hot it really ruins my whole mood. I don’t really mesh with most people in the culture, since I don’t like sports, drinking or gambling. I don’t know how exclusive that is to Australia though, I probably just wouldn't fit in anywhere. We also have serious discrimination problems… but I'm sure that’s also the case in most places. I find it hard to find anything I like here in particular, like something that’s unique to Australia. But I'm doing alright here, and it’s not the worst it could be… so that’s something!

Q: Why do you think you have minor tics? And how are your yawns musical?

A: I have no idea why I have minor tics, but I’m getting tested for adhd/autism at the moment and was told It could have something to do with that. My yawns are musical because for some reason every time I yawn it sounds like I’m going to break out into song and I can’t help it. I sound like an opera singer for a few seconds and I’m not able to recreate it.

Q: What is it like having heart pain that's related to stress?

A: Not fun but I can’t complain too much since I'd rather have this than something that affected my physical abilities or life expectancy. I suppose there’s a chance it is related to something medical professionals haven’t found, but for now I was told it’s probably stress and anxiety, since tests were run on me and nothing was uncovered. It happens at random times… how my mood is doesn’t really seem to matter. Sometimes it’s long and I feel like I can't breathe, other times it’s short and like a jolt in my chest that makes me jump. 

Q: How would you describe your worldview?

A: I like to consider myself an optimistic nihilist but it does become harder to be optimistic every day. Which is why I don’t blame people for being so apathetic at the moment but I really think everyone should do their very best to care about stuff. Not necessarily the world as a whole but at the very least the people close to you. Be the best person you can in your tiny life, there’s no excuse for not showing empathy and kindness to people. The world is cruel enough to everyone, we need to not make it any worse for each other by being shitty even if that’s not easy sometimes. So I guess that’s how I see the world, I wish people would be better. And I hope that things will get better (still somehow) but I’m really not certain of it.