"Route 66 - ein amerikanischer albTraum" is Germany's first open source film. Which means it is free for download from the web. Copying and modification are not only allowed but in fact encouraged. It's also available on DVD (as well as both the book and the soundtrack) for a small fee.
The film was made with almost no budget. In account to this both photography and music are surprisingly good. It shows in a remarkable way what you can achieve if you just want to. The camera-work is quite shaky from time to time and they let themselves get carried away with cheesy alienating effects, though.
The really big problem with this film is, it's somewhat lengthy, almost boring. There are endless sequences of (admittedly nicely photographed) sceneries with relaxing background music. But nothing happens. Obviously they didn't have enough exciting incidents on their trip to make it more interesting. The story of three guys making their way across America in a car fit for the scrap heap, dragging themselves from one break-down to another isn't too thrilling. In the end it's just an extravagant vacation video. If they only had managed to get someone who's voice is actually suitable to do the narration it would have helped a lot.
The film was made with almost no budget. In account to this both photography and music are surprisingly good. It shows in a remarkable way what you can achieve if you just want to. The camera-work is quite shaky from time to time and they let themselves get carried away with cheesy alienating effects, though.
The really big problem with this film is, it's somewhat lengthy, almost boring. There are endless sequences of (admittedly nicely photographed) sceneries with relaxing background music. But nothing happens. Obviously they didn't have enough exciting incidents on their trip to make it more interesting. The story of three guys making their way across America in a car fit for the scrap heap, dragging themselves from one break-down to another isn't too thrilling. In the end it's just an extravagant vacation video. If they only had managed to get someone who's voice is actually suitable to do the narration it would have helped a lot.
