America the Beautiful
Open Door
A Fall Journey Through the American Heartland
Directed by Mark Fleming · Odyssey Studios · Brand USA
Odyssey Studios / Brand USA
Introduction
The road is only the beginning.
Picture early November. Mist lifting off a river valley, a two-lane road bending into forest the color of embers, a small town just waking up around the next turn.
We are proposing two routes through the American heartland to choose between, each crossing three states: the ridge-top roads, river bluffs and waterfalls of the Ozarks, or the sandstone bluffs and river towns of Missouri, Illinois and Indiana.
This is the kind of film we love to make: one where the landscapes are unforgettable, and what happens within them is unmistakably human.
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Odyssey Studios / Brand USA
Director’s statement
What a road trip is made of.
I’ve spent more than twenty years behind a camera, and the road is where I feel most at home with one.
Every road trip worth remembering is made of the same three things: the characters we meet, the landscapes that stop us in our tracks, and the moments shared along the way. Take one away and it is only a drive.
So this film has to be big. Ridgelines running to the horizon, river valleys filling with morning light, a road that keeps promising something around the bend. America at the scale it deserves.
And inside that scale, a door opens. That is the film I want to make for America the Beautiful: epic in its scenery, and generous in its welcome.
Mark Fleming · Director
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Creative approach
A country worth getting lost in.
We’re making a film at the scale of the country itself: wide, layered, and full of weather, light and color.
The landscape leads. Ridgelines, river valleys and long ribbons of road give every stretch of the route its own sense of awe, with low sun and color on every hillside.
A road trip is made of three things. The characters we meet. The landscapes we experience. The moments shared along the way.
Then the people give it warmth. A wave from a porch or an invitation into a workshop may stay with us as long as the view.
Odyssey Studios / Brand USA
Shooting philosophy
Epic in scale. Human at heart.
We shoot a road trip the way it is lived: the long view first. Big skies, deep valleys and roads that run to the horizon set the scale of every chapter.
Within those landscapes we find our characters, and let each encounter unfold with care and without hurry. A documentary instinct, carried by the craft of commercial filmmaking.
Wide, then close, then wide again. That rhythm is what makes a journey feel like a journey.
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Odyssey Studios / Brand USA
Camera and movement
The landscape, the road, the people.
The wide frame
Aerials and long-lens vistas at first and last light, with our travelers held small in the frame so the audience feels the full scale of the place.
Movement with purpose
Tracking alongside and ahead of the car, the camera leans into every curve, so the audience feels the road and the country opening up ahead.
Among the people
Handheld and on wider lenses when we stop, so each encounter keeps the landscape in frame. The place stays present, even in a conversation.
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Odyssey Studios / Brand USA
What a road trip is made of
Moments, landscapes, characters.
The landscapes we experience
Ridgelines stacked to the horizon. A ribbon of road through a forest lit with color. First light spilling across a valley wide enough to quiet the car.
The characters we meet
The people who give a place its voice: a maker at the bench, a grower at the stand, a host on the porch, each glad to show us around.
The moments we share
A shared laugh at an overlook. A map unfolded across a dashboard. A wave in the mirror as we pull back onto the road.
Together, they are what a road trip is made of.
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Odyssey Studios / Brand USA
The road ahead
Following the season.
By early November, the season has moved south through the Midwest and settled into the wooded hills and river valleys of the heartland. That is where we go to meet it.
We’ve prepared two routes to choose from, each through three states. Each keeps its stops close enough together to hold our days on camera, and is varied enough to feel like a true journey.
Final locations will follow the season itself, so the film is made where the color is at its richest.
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Odyssey Studios / Brand USA
Route option 01 · Missouri · Arkansas · Oklahoma
The Ozarks
Ridge-top byways, river bluffs, and hidden waterfalls.
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Odyssey Studios / Brand USA
Route option 01
The Ozarks
Three states, one range of hills. We begin on a ridge-top road in Mark Twain National Forest, follow the bluffs of the Buffalo River through the Arkansas highlands, and end at a waterfall in the Oklahoma Ozarks.
1. Missouri — Glade Top Trail and Mark Twain National Forest
A ridge-top scenic byway with long views across open glades and layered Ozark hills.
2. Arkansas — Eureka Springs and the Buffalo River
A Victorian mountain town with a long-standing arts community, and tall river bluffs in the Ozark highlands along the Buffalo National River.
3. Oklahoma — Natural Falls and the Illinois River
A tall waterfall in a wooded Ozark hollow, and a clear, tree-lined river near Tahlequah.
Foliage window
Color spreads south through the Ozarks by late October and early November. We would film in the opening week of November and track conditions closely beforehand.
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Odyssey Studios / Brand USA
Route option 02 · Missouri · Illinois · Indiana
The Shawnee Hills
& the Great Rivers
Sandstone bluffs, orchard country, and historic river towns.
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Odyssey Studios / Brand USA
Route option 02
The Shawnee Hills & the Great Rivers
A Midwest most travelers have never seen. We begin in one of the oldest towns on the Mississippi, climb onto the sandstone bluffs of southern Illinois, and finish in a historic village on the Wabash.
1. Missouri — Ste. Genevieve and the Mississippi
Missouri’s oldest town, with French colonial streets, wooded river hills, and the Mississippi at its edge.
2. Illinois — Shawnee National Forest and the river bluffs
Garden of the Gods above an unbroken forest canopy, the southern river bluffs, and orchards and vineyards in the hills below.
3. Indiana — New Harmony and the Wabash
A historic village with utopian roots, a working arts community, and the Wabash River alongside.
Foliage window
Southern Illinois typically hits its stride in late October and carries into early November. We would film in the opening week of November and track conditions closely beforehand.
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Odyssey Studios / Brand USA
At a glance
Two routes to choose from
Route option 01
The Ozarks
States
Missouri / Arkansas / Oklahoma
On screen
Mark Twain National Forest, Glade Top Trail, the Buffalo River and a waterfall
Who we hope to meet
Artists, river guides and outfitters
Character
One range of hills across three states
Route option 02
The Shawnee Hills & the Great Rivers
States
Missouri / Illinois / Indiana
On screen
Shawnee National Forest, the southern river bluffs, and two historic river towns
Who we hope to meet
Growers, winemakers, artists and shopkeepers
Character
Three states, entirely within the Midwest
Foliage timing reflects historical tendencies, not verified 2026 peaks. Exact stops and driving logistics remain subject to scouting. · 13
Odyssey Studios / Brand USA
Closing
The characters. The landscapes.
The moments shared along the way.
Two routes through the American heartland. Either one is an opportunity to discover the extraordinary in the everyday.
01
Select the preferred route
02
Refine locations and local encounters
03
Confirm timing against current foliage conditions
America the Beautiful · Open Door