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For me, “Occupants” was a wonderful experience.

It employed a new style of filmmaking that I never explored before – that of the “found footage” concept. It required an entirely new outlook. Gone was the classic narrative setup of an establishing shot, wide shot, medium shots, and close-ups: Now it was replaced by a point-of-view type of perspective, from a “webcam” / “security camera” or a “handheld” format.

While certain elements were made easier (for example, less camera setups), it was made more difficult in other respects. For example, one scene would be only one shot – so all elements in that one shot had to be "perfect" (from the acting to the lighting). Definitely more challenging, but a lot of fun!

And not only was I able to work with my producing partner, Howard Nash again, but this film teamed me up with various crew members I have come to know from previous collaborations, including my DP / editor Emile Haris and my key gaffer / 1st assistant camera Jorge Hernandez. And of course, it's always a pleasure to direct Robert Picardo, with whom this was my fifth collaboration.

Notwithstanding the above, we raised our money for this film in an “out-of-the-box” way – through crowd funding methods via the site, IndieGoGo. We began by filming a “Video Teaser”, introducing our project. And throughout the next 60 days of our fundraising, we were able to persuade family and friends (and complete strangers) to have faith in our project. We ultimately raised 106% of our goal!

Along for the ride were a new cast and crew that I had the pleasure of meeting and working with. Briana White and Michael Pugliese were both wonderful and brilliant choices to play our lead characters, Annie and Neil. Their characters’ complexities hit close to home for me (for aren’t we all human, with our own human frailties and “inconsistent” behavior?). It was intriguing to have these two actors play dual roles – both a “good” and a “bad” version. Since both versions were genetically identical, the characters begin to doubt not only each other, but themselves, which made for an amazing experience to see their dualities explored.

It was also great to work with writer Julia Camara, unit production manager Jennifer Durst, 1st assistant director Clifford Breakfield, production designer Tatiana Kuilanoff, key costumer Nina Minnelli, key makeup artist Alisha L. Baijounas, script supervisor Alexandria Sanders, still photographers Jack Roth and Janeen Berryman, and our behind-the-scenes videographer, Eric Kask.

We also dabbled into "viral marketing" by creating a website for the Peterson Research Institute (P.R.I.) to tie it into the film itself. The P.R.I. company has various "testimonial videos" of people who saw parallel universes. These cases range up to Case 831 which the feature film itself is about (http://www.pri-research.info).

Furthermore, we created a 24 page comic book tie-in based on another "testimonial video" we filmed - Case 285 based on a "Lee Mitchell" and his story, which is now fully funded via Indiegogo as of March 9, 2016 (http://igg.me/at/occupantscomicbook/x/7977592).

With this incredible collaboration between cast and crew, “Occupants” has now attained final completion. That said, I hope you'll enjoy our film, and my fourth foray into feature filmmaking.

-- Russ Emanuel

Russell "Russ" Emanuel is an award-winning American director, producer, and independent filmmaker, having directed such actors as John Heard (actor), Robert Picardo, Vincent Pastore, Glynnis O'Connor, Hallie Kate Eisenberg, Jeremy London, Ryan Hurst, William Devane, Marina Sirtis, Sean Kenney, Armin Shimerman, and Gary Graham. Originally from San Francisco, he grew up in both Japan and the United States, garnering an international viewpoint of the world throughout his childhood. After graduating from the University of Southern California to study Cinema-Television, he founded Russem Productions in 2002 in order to promote his short films including GIRL WITH GUN (2005) and documentary RESTORATION OF PARADISE (2014), as well as current films COLLAR (2017), THE ASSASSIN’S APPRENTICE (2018), and THE ASSASSIN’S APPRENTICE II (2021). Presently, WISPER (2020) marks Emanuel's fifth foray into feature filmmaking, after having directed P.J. (2007), CHASING THE GREEN (2009), THE LEGENDS OF NETHIAH (2012), and OCCUPANTS (2015).

For me, “Occupants” was a wonderful experience.

It employed a new style of filmmaking that I never explored before – that of the “found footage” concept. It required an entirely new outlook. Gone was the classic narrative setup of an establishing shot, wide shot, medium shots, and close-ups: Now it was replaced by a point-of-view type of perspective, from a “webcam” / “security camera” or a “handheld” format.

While certain elements were made easier (for example, less camera setups), it was made more difficult in other respects. For example, one scene would be only one shot – so all elements in that one shot had to be "perfect" (from the acting to the lighting). Definitely more challenging, but a lot of fun!

And not only was I able to work with my producing partner, Howard Nash again, but this film teamed me up with various crew members I have come to know from previous collaborations, including my DP / editor Emile Haris and my key gaffer / 1st assistant camera Jorge Hernandez. And of course, it's always a pleasure to direct Robert Picardo, with whom this was my fifth collaboration.

Notwithstanding the above, we raised our money for this film in an “out-of-the-box” way – through crowd funding methods via the site, IndieGoGo. We began by filming a “Video Teaser”, introducing our project. And throughout the next 60 days of our fundraising, we were able to persuade family and friends (and complete strangers) to have faith in our project. We ultimately raised 106% of our goal!

Along for the ride were a new cast and crew that I had the pleasure of meeting and working with. Briana White and Michael Pugliese were both wonderful and brilliant choices to play our lead characters, Annie and Neil. Their characters’ complexities hit close to home for me (for aren’t we all human, with our own human frailties and “inconsistent” behavior?). It was intriguing to have these two actors play dual roles – both a “good” and a “bad” version. Since both versions were genetically identical, the characters begin to doubt not only each other, but themselves, which made for an amazing experience to see their dualities explored.

It was also great to work with writer Julia Camara, unit production manager Jennifer Durst, 1st assistant director Clifford Breakfield, production designer Tatiana Kuilanoff, key costumer Nina Minnelli, key makeup artist Alisha L. Baijounas, script supervisor Alexandria Sanders, still photographers Jack Roth and Janeen Berryman, and our behind-the-scenes videographer, Eric Kask.

We also dabbled into "viral marketing" by creating a website for the Peterson Research Institute (P.R.I.) to tie it into the film itself. The P.R.I. company has various "testimonial videos" of people who saw parallel universes. These cases range up to Case 831 which the feature film itself is about (http://www.pri-research.info).

Furthermore, we created a 24 page comic book tie-in based on another "testimonial video" we filmed - Case 285 based on a "Lee Mitchell" and his story, which is now fully funded via Indiegogo as of March 9, 2016 (http://igg.me/at/occupantscomicbook/x/7977592).

With this incredible collaboration between cast and crew, “Occupants” has now attained final completion. That said, I hope you'll enjoy our film, and my fourth foray into feature filmmaking.

-- Russ Emanuel