Atlas Obscura
We were commissioned to make two short documentaries that celebrate the off-the-beaten path wacky, weird, and unexpected places buried deep in the Nevada desert. Our goal was to inspire international travelers to explore undiscovered parts of Nevada in hopes of reactivating a lagging travel economy.
In each doc, our small crew conducted dozens of interviews and dug through mounds of archival to piece together layered stories that both educate and inspire travelers to reconsider what lives between the cities.
Towns like Tonopah are often discovered—by accident—en route from one place to another.
The camera mimic’ed the POV of the traveler —curious and unsettled eyes, but with a sense of discovery—examining the details, exploring every corner. The locals we met were our tour guides—some reliable and some not so much. The voices added depth, color, and local personality, peeling back the layers and the storied history. And the stories only revealed new questions, a deeper need to spend more time here.
By weaving together the voices of people who have been there, who are there now, and who never left, we explored what we can learn about American life—and ourselves—when we face fear and fascination in the middle of the desert.
Credits
Production Company: Hello Stranger
Director: Michael Smith
Assistant Director: Alex Morelli
DP: Tim Kellner
Executive Producers: Kristen Lewis, April Lewis
Editors: Rhys Ernst & Alex Morelli
Color: Colin Travers
Sound Mix: Nathan Ruyle
Archival Producer: Lisa Janssen