Sierra Grande Lodge

I'm cleaning my drawer, putting the archive slowly together. So, here is commercial that we shot in August 2005 in New Mexico (published on this site with a permission of the author). Screenwriter and director was Karim Raoul, Director of Photography Gilles Arnaud, I was the assistant director and later the editor, Andrew Brook was assistant camera and Ishan Shapiro a gaffer. Sound post-production was made by Jean-Nicola Risler and I forgot the name of the guy who wrote the music (Karim please help, so I can update this later).
Anyhow, we shot it in a town with a really funny name: Truth or Consequences. When I entered the States, the border policeman hardly believed when he saw this name written as a destination. Btw, the story with the name is quite interesting. Back in 50's there was a very successful radio show called Truth or Consequences. They offered some free publicity to the town in US which will take the name. So, the town called Hot Springs took the opportunity and changed the name into the Truth or Consequences (more about that you can read here). The story goes further; after changing the name, local economy, which is mostly established on tourism (health resorts with hot springs) instead of growing up, started to fall down.
Anyhow, in 2005 it reminded me of an old and abandoned film studio.
But here is the commercial, shot in 35 mm, and the post-production was made in HD.
sierra grande


To get the feeling of the town and our shoot, here are some photos (for a teaser, just this amazing religious advertising).

J.J.B.