Director, Designer, Editor & Cinematographer 

Josh offers a thoughtful approach to design and media development. He is deeply involved in the conceptualization and execution of ideas on his clients' behalf.  Josh has led teams responsible for creating award winning narrative non-fiction content, including projects for Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).

Currently Josh's studio is busy working on a variety of projects that include the creation of short documentary vignettes, episodic branded entertainment, independently produced animated short films, architectural vizualization films and communication strategy development.

Josh has worked with clients as a director, designer, cinematographer, editor, animator and information architect. His work has been seen in projects for Blackstone Group, Bowdoin College, Brown University, Comcast, Douglas Trumbull, FirstWorks, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Forgotten Judaica, Fustolo Development, Hasbro, Jan Krukowski & Co., Loft 5, Media Education Foundation, Michael Graves and Associates, National Parks Service, St. Paul's School, Struever Bros. Eccels and Rouse, SJP Properties, Studio Daniel Libeskind and United States Army Corps of Engineers.

Josh began his career at RISD as a computer lab support specialist. While there, he helped people solve computer problems by showing them how to re-boot their machines. Tuning the computer off and then on again fixed the problem 9 times out of 10 and gave josh lots of free time to utilize, what was then, rare access to a high bandwidth internet connection and unlimited long distance calling -- to promote his college degree project film about computer hackers. The excitement surrounding video on the internet in 1999 inspired Josh to quickly leave his job and co-found Tellart, an information design and  interactive media development company. During this time, he enjoyed having five brilliant and energetic business partners, a partnership with the consultancy Jan Krukowski and Co. in NYC, and the mentorship of internationally renowned information designer Krzysztof Lenk. In 2003 Josh went solo to form Backer Motion Pictures where he mostly helped people working in the fine arts utilize video. Currently, Josh is Founder and President at Animal LLC, a boutique motion picture design studio. He also has formed a partnership with Barnaby Jackson and Timothy Dukes called Machine Hero to handle highly dynamic and complex challenges. Josh leads this new breed of media consultancy into the post-industrial age as Creative Director.

Josh continues to teach as adjunct faculty at RISD. He has also taught at the Roger Williams University School of Art, Art History and Historic Preservation, Rhode Island College's Masters in New Media Program and the Imedia International Certificate Program in New Media (Fraunhofer CRCG) and the Neiman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.