“How Long Will I Love You?” holds a special meaning for me – it is both the song the harpist played as I walked down the aisle, and the song I recorded for the first dance at my wedding. I decided to make a music video to accompany my recorded version and wanted it to be equally as special. Therefore, my best friend and maid of honour, Chloe, and her boyfriend, Dan, were the perfect choice to feature in this video. My first choice of location, Becky Falls, was unavailable as it had just closed for the season. Fortunately, the nearby Bellever forest was open and ended up being a fantastic place to shoot. We had to organise when to meet, as I had to drive to Exeter to meet up before going to the shoot locations. Fortunately, after comparing schedules and checking the weather forecast, our first choice of date worked out perfectly. The sunlight was very strong, but as most of our footage was shot in the woods, we could utilise the shade while keeping the autumnal warmth of the sunlight. This also aided in capturing a stunning, shallow depth of field. I found that the daylight was a little weak by the time we got to the beach as sunset was nearing, so most of this footage is duller than I had hoped it would be.
I had initially planned to open and close the video with the couple holding hands, first as the young couple featured and then again in their old age, to demonstrate that their love is timeless. The plan was to film my grandmother and her partner for the outro shot, silhouetted among the trees and walking away from the camera holding hands. Unfortunately, I was unable to capture this shot in the short time I had to visit my family. Following this, I decided to also drop the planned intro shot and have the couple walk into the woodland scene together instead. For the outro, I panned downward from the sky to the ocean waves rolling in.
The scenery shots were largely taken at Tehidy woods and Portreath beach – I realised that I didn’t have sufficient footage without the couple, so I shot a few clips at local places that could blend seamlessly with those from Devon.
While I am pleased overall with the video, and how I have successfully synchronised it with the music both lyrically and in timing, I know I could have made some improvements. I took a tripod with me, but as it isn’t the sturdiest, there is still a lot of camera shake. This was my main obstacle when it came to editing the footage together, especially as I am unfamiliar with Premiere Pro and how to use tools like the warp stabiliser. Regardless, I am proud of my work - it is the first video I have ever created, and I feel I was able to achieve what I set out to. I learned a lot along the way, both in technical skills and creative decision-making, and have undoubtedly grown as a filmmaker.
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