For several years, Linklater made many short films that were exercises and experiments in film techniques. He finally completed his first feature, "It's Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books" (which is available in The Criterion Collection edition of his second feature, "Slacker"), a Super-8 feature that took a year to shoot and another year to edit. The film is significant in the sense that it establishes most of Linklater's preoccupations. The film has his trademark style of minimal camera movements and lack of narrative, while it examines the theme of traveling with no particular direction in mind. These idiosyncrasies would be explored in greater detail in future projects.