Principal photography lasted about 50 days from December 14 , 1998 , to February 1999 . American Beauty was filmed on soundstages at the Warner Bros. backlot in Burbank , California , and at Hancock Park and Brentwood in Los Angeles . The aerial shots at the beginning and end of the film were captured in Sacramento , California , and many of the school scenes were shot at South High School in Torrance , California ; several extras in the gym crowd were South High students . The film is set in an upper middle @-@ class neighborhood in an unidentified American town . Production designer Naomi Shohan likened the locale to Evanston , Illinois , but said , " it 's not about a place , it 's about an archetype . [ ... ] The milieu was pretty much Anywhere , USA — upwardly mobile suburbia . " The intent was for the setting to reflect the characters , who are also archetypes . Shohan said , " All of them are very strained , and their lives are constructs . " The Burnhams ' household was designed as the reverse of the Fitts ' — the former a pristine ideal , but graceless and lacking in " inner balance " , leading to Carolyn 's desire to at least give it the appearance of a " perfect all @-@ American household " ; the Fitts ' home is depicted in " exaggerated darkness [ and ] symmetry " .