Behind the Lens: Meet the Multitalented Filmmakers of ‘Almost Human’

Two young filmmakers — Joe Begos, 25, and Josh Ethier, 26, — debuted their feature Almost Human this week at the Toronto International Film Festival, demonstrating their many talents.

Begos was the director, writer, producer and cinematographer; while Ethier was also a producer, as well as the editor, sound designer and even a lead actor.

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The pair described their film as a “high-concept mashup” between an alien abduction and slasher movie, a sort of “Fire in the Sky meets The Terminator.”

Friends since high school, the two shot the film in Rhode Island in February 2012. Begos said they “wanted the movie to take place in the winter, in the cold, something like Pet Cemetery. It’s very bleak. You see their breath. Everything is dead. That in itself is a character.”

Ethier added that sound was just as important as editing. A lot of time went into everything from the howling winds to the other worldly feel.

Almost Human was lensed with a Red One MX and cut on an Avid. “We did a lot of the conform ourselves, including color correction,” Ethier related. “Most of the post was [completed] by the two of us in our apartment,” though they did go to Lit Post in New York for finishing.

Begos noted that the ability to access some of the same tools used by professionals was a big help in making the production possible on a low budget.

E-mail: Carolyn.Giardina@THR.com
Twitter: @CGinLA