A super-creative and very romantic graphic animator thrilled his girlfriend recently with a sweet marriage proposal cleverly masked as a Hollywood movie trailer.
Vancouver, Wash., resident Adrianna Neil was so excited to attend an early screening of the blockbuster, live-action Beauty and the Beast as a 26th birthday present from her boyfriend, Ryan Langston. What she didn't realize was that a two-minute movie trailer would change her life forever.
A YouTube video documenting the event shows a split screen, with the trailer on the right and Neil's reaction shots on the left.
At first, we hear an announcer speaking about how sometimes people who started as strangers become good friends over time, and how, sometimes, a good friend becomes much more.
"You feel butterflies when you see them," says the announcer. "You feel at a loss when they are not around."
The images on the screen at this point are blurry silhouettes of nondescript couples.
But, then the announcer gets much more specific, noting the specific trips they've shared and the places they've dreamed of visiting together. The images transition into sweeping views of Italy, Scotland and their hometown, along with romantic shots of the couple, their friends and family.
The left side of the split screen captures the very moment Neil realizes that she's the star of the trailer and that her boyfriend is about to propose. The trailer concludes with a title screen reading, "Adrianna, Will You Marry Me?"
Langston then gets down on one knee and pops the question. Neil says, "Yes," and her boyfriend slides a diamond ring on her finger. The couple embraces and the movie-goers in attendance cheer their approval.
“We both love movies or anything that brings an emotional experience," the 28-year-old Langston told The Huffington Post. "And I wanted to propose in a way that would be memorable. I knew that I wanted it to be something really special for her.”
As a graphic animator for Cinetopia theaters, Langston was well versed in the ins and outs of producing a professional-grade two-minute trailer. And it wasn't by chance that the fake trailer/proposal took place in a Cinetopia theater. Langston told The Huffington Post that it took a month to get the trailer just right.
“The staff [of Cinetopia] was amazing at helping me pull this off,” he said. “They ran the test of the trailer several times that day during intermissions just to make sure it would run without a hitch.”
Neil and Langston have known each other for 10 years, but started dating a year ago. They're planning a September 2018 wedding and a honeymoon in Scotland or Italy.
In the caption of his YouTube video, Langston wrote, "I proposed to the most amazing woman, Adrianna Neil. I wanted to do something special so I created a short video that appears to be an advertisement at first. I love her reaction."
You can check out the video, below.
Credits: Screen captures via YouTube.com/Ryan Langston. Facebook.com/Ryan Langston.
