A Screenplay With Outdoor Scenes Only?

[seunosewa]

Hello,

Is it possible to write a good story with outdoor scenes only? I'm creating a sitcom mostly for fun, and I'm thinking I could perhaps make the video aspect less expensive by having outdoor scenes only, but i don't know if it's possible to do that and still have a great story. Is it not too restrictive?

Thanks.

[clockwork]

There's no reason you can't tell a complelling story anywhere at all but every fibre of my being tells me that it would be far simpler and cheaper to do it indoors where you have a greater degree of control. Outside, or 'location shoots' are tricky because you can't control the weather, extraneous noise, passersby - not to mention the complications involved in obtaining the necessary permissions and clearances for shooting.

I'd say yes, it's possible to tell a story set entirely outdoors. Would I want to? I don't think I would. YMMV.

[odocoileus]

How much of Dances With Wolves takes place outdoors? How much of Lord of the Flies? Saving Private Ryan?

[NikeeGoddess]

the possibility of having a great story set outdoors is equal to possibility of having a great story set indoors. meaning it's irrelevant to the quality of the story.

the production of shooting a sitcom and a feature are quite different. it's obvious that most sitcoms take place with only a few locations. but are there any sitcoms completely outdoors? the complications stated by clock are the reasons why not. the closest i can recall at the moment is M.A.S.H. which was 50/50. and hour long drama - Lost is about 90% outdoors which is unique.

and most features with lots of exterior scenes are shot in isolated areas: islands, jungles, outback, a farm, a phonebooth/one city street, etc... it keeps the costs down.

[Hillgate]

Low budget? Shoot indoors. That's what TV does. You can shoot 20 pages in a day or a movie in a week in a controlled, one room environment. Outdoors means huge post-production issues, continuity issues (ie the weather changes, wind, etc) and yes those bloody permits!

[clockwork]

Last of the Summer Wine a BBC sitcom, is the only example I can think of that had substantial location shooting in every episode. Different again because the location was always a rural and isolated village field/road/street.

[zahra]

How much of Dances With Wolves takes place outdoors? How much of Lord of the Flies? Saving Private Ryan?
Big-ass budgets, though.

[Jerm]

Blair Witch.. I think was pretty much outdoor pick except the last seen in the house. It was certainly low budget.

[odocoileus]

Big-ass budgets, though.

True.

Blair Witch.. I think was pretty much outdoor pick except the last seen in the house. It was certainly low budget.


Also true.

Sitcom lighting setups tend to be simpler than those for dramatic shows. Bright, even lighting.

You could just put a big white tent over the whole set to give you that bright, even lighting. Not super cheap, but not time consuming or superexpensive either.

[zeprosnepsid]

As pointed out, obviously you can set it outdoors, it's the premise and characters that matter.

But as noted, for a sitcom, that is in no way less expensive. What's funny is that if your sitcom gets picked up, it's almost certainly going to be shot on a set indoors (or the very least on a backlot) even if it's set outdoors. Think Tim Taylor's backyard in Home Improvement or something. Still indoors!

[seunosewa]

Thanks for the insight, guys. The reason for my preference for the outdoors is that in my town, we have electricity only 20% of the time - it's completely unreliable. And indoor lighting sucks so much power that one would need a noisy generator, which is bad for sound, and would complicate production a lot. So I thought, "why not just use the sun"?

[NikeeGoddess]

b/c the sun is not reliable either. ie - it casts shadows: if you begin screening a scene a noon and don't finish until 6pm the shadows will be going 90 degrees to the left.

no one said you had to produce in your own little amish/3rd world town but hey, if it's a micro budget flicker then by all means.