First, a quick look at the video for those who haven't seen it. Below, we'll examine the "Making of the Trailer," with the help of the now fiance Matt Still and his videographer Michael Escobar.
The credits: The couple are Matt Still and Ginny Joiner, who live in Locust Grove, about 40 miles south of Atlanta. Escobar is connected to the couple through his wife, who went to high school with Still, 30 and Joiner, 26. Still enlisted Escobar through a friend of a friend and the two have known each other just a month. The voiceover, by the way, was a first-time effort by Escobar's friend Brandon Richardson. Escobar, 31, is from Milwaukee and has lived in Atlanta 10 years. He works for a utility company and has his own production company. For more, here is his website. Also starring: Ginny's father Ed Joiner who took off work early to shoot his scenes.
The plot: The proposal was during the trailers before the feature movie "Fast Five" on May 7 at the Great Escape movie theater in McDonough. Still said the theater was all about the project and was excited to be a part of it, no charge. Escobar said shooting the video was no different despite the size of the screen. They just had to figure out how to feed it from a laptop through the movie projector.
The extras: "There were about 30 friends and family members in the audience prior to her arrival," said Escobar. Escobar admitted it was stressful because if Joiner had seen one person, the jig would have been up." As Joiner told the AJC blog The Buzz, Still "got me good."
The money shot: One classic shot is (spoiler alert!) Still stopping for popcorn prior to the proposal. But another great idea was keeping a camera on Joiner to capture her reaction as she realized the movie trailer was custom-made for her. Escobar said Joiner was placed in the front of a section so there was "a decent gap between her and the section in front of her." Escobar was able to wedge a camera between two seats and cover it with a sweater. Clever.
The director's cut: There are a few reasons Still chose to see the movie "Fast Five" with Joiner. The best is that he wanted - get this - continuity with the trailer they were producing. Since he prefilmed the first part, and he was running into see "Fast Five" in those scenes, he wanted that consistent with the film they went to see. Now that's paying attention to detail. (He admitted there were some inconsistencies, however). Another reason was that the theater needed an audience that could see the more R-Rated preview "Hangover 2". To make the second preview believable, Still tagged the homemade proposal to the back of the "Hangover 2" trailer for a seamless transition. P.S. They didn't stay to see the movie.
The reviews: Escobar said they've been contacted by almost every national news network and have done radio interviews across the country and in Canada. "Did we think we would get some views? Yes, maybe like a 1,000 or something over time," he said. "But did we have any idea this would happen? Umm, heck no! There is no way in the world you have an idea it would become this big!" Still told the AJC, "We were extremely shocked by it. We posted it just so our friends and family who couldn't be in the audience could see it. It just spread."
The sequel: No date is set for the wedding, said Still, but it will be in Georgia. And yes, Escobar is shooting the wedding. "I am doing the entire package from beginning to end," Escobar said.
