“A tailor who works in the castle of the royal family is lovestruck by the Princess.” An animatic.
The Tailor
“In ‘The Tailor’, which is currently an animatic but will eventually be a completed short film, an in-house tailor who works in the castle of the royal family is love-struck by the Princess, whom she meets while making her a ball gown. The two have had feelings for each other for a while now, but of course it was always expected that the Princess would have to marry a prince, and so they did nothing. Right after making the grandest ball gown yet for the Princess, the Tailor realizes that maybe she can cheat a supposed destiny, by making herself into a prince with a hand-sewn disguise so that she can spend a night at the ball with her.
After dancing the night away, they are found out. Everyone at the ball immediately rejects the two: Princesses are not supposed to dance with anyone who is not a prince! Feeling rejected and scared, the Tailor runs away. The next morning however, the Princess appears to her in disguise, and the two escape from the castle and run off to find their happiness together.
The themes and form of the ’The Tailor’ stem from my Gallatin concentration, which combines digital media with childhood development and education, mainly in the area of cartoons and animation. Ultimately, this story is about how you don’t have to fit into the roles that you’re born into, and that everyone has control over their own destiny. It is important that the increase in the number of LGBT stories being told in the media extends to children’s media as well, so that LGBT kids have exposure to stories of same-sex couples that have happy endings. There is an ever-increasing presence of queer stories in children’s cartoons, and it is only inevitable that one of these stories is turned into a full-length film. Doing so will allow LGBT youth to see themselves represented, and perhaps therefore have an easier time coming to understand themselves while growing up.”—Cynthia Segal, cynthiasegalart.com
“The Tailor” was developed in the Tisch Film and TV course “Animation: From Pitchline to Production,” with Professor Sang Jin-Bae. It was nominated for publication by Professor Ann Chwatsky.