Almost every woman has imagined their dream wedding at least once in their lives.
But a close second in importance, if not just as important, is the dream proposal. And one lucky girl named Sthuthi David got the latter when her boyfriend hijacked “Sleeping Beauty,” Sthuti’s favorite Disney film, and turned it into an elaborate proposal movie. What else could she do but say yes?
Lee Loechler spent about six months inserting both of them into the movie. The scene involves Prince Lee proposing to Princess Sthuthi.
“It’s not every day you get to propose to your high school sweetheart,” said Lee as he proposed to the love of his life while on one knee.
People on social media were thrilled at the whole thing and the video has gone viral with over 1.1 million views and counting.
Lee explained: “A few years back, a friend of mine told me he was planning to propose to his then-girlfriend, and I suggested he should ‘Forrest Gump’ himself into her favorite movie, and then have his on-screen character ‘toss’ the ring to his real-life self.point 353 |
I don’t know where that idea came from, but it felt fun and magical, and it played into my skill set as a filmmaker.point 95 | He didn’t think it was right for him, so I filed it away for later use.point 153 | ”point 156 | 1
“When things started getting serious with Sthuthi, I started thinking about how I might propose.point 240 |
I still thought that idea had potential, but her favorite movie was animated.point 65 | And my experience was all in live-action.point 100 | I know some After Effects, but I am by no means an animator, let alone capable of generating something that would hold up side-by-side with Disney.point 222 |
But, on a whim, I scrubbed through Sleeping Beauty and noted that in the climactic scene there was very little movement.point 100 | Maybe, if it’s mostly static, I can still pull this off.point 148 | I went on Instagram and started following various Disney art hashtags, hoping to find an illustrator who was up to the task.point 251 |
It wasn’t until I stumbled on Kayla’s work that the first inkling set in that “this might be possible after all…”point 103 | 1
To get the mood right, Lee invited all of Sthuthi’s family and friends to show up early at the theater.
“Anyone she might recognize was seated in the back few rows.point 245 |
I worked with the projectionist to make sure all ambient lighting would be off when she entered, to help conceal the familiar faces.point 110 | Unfortunately, the projector was so bright that the light from the screen still illuminated the whole room.point 201 |
To combat this, we decided to show trailers ahead of the film, which we manually darkened so there wouldn’t be as much light spill onto the audience.point 125 | So at 7:30 PM when we walked into the room together, it was nice and dark as we found our seats.point 201 | 1
“I’m sure there will be Disney elements to the wedding, but we’re still in the nascent stages of planning. That said, if Disney wants to chalk it up as marketing dollars and hook us up with an Aulani honeymoon, we are for sure not above selling out.”
With the help of illustrator Kayla Coombs, Lee changed the scene where Prince Phillip kisses Princess Aurora on the lips in order to wake her. In Lee’s version, his cartoon self takes out a box that had a ring in it and tosses it to the real-life Lee who then catches it.
It must’ve taken a lot of practice for Lee to get it down perfectly but one thing’s for sure: Sthuthi is a very lucky woman!
Replaced!