 A music video for " The Only Exception " was directed by Brandon Chesbro , who had been working with Paramore for over two years . The song 's music video was Chesbro 's music video directorial debut . Prior to " The Only Exception " video , Chesbro had been approached to direct music videos for Brand New Eyes ' two previous singles , but decided against it due to creative opinions . In December 2009 , he was asked to direct the music video for " The Only Exception " . Although the story board process took a while , the video was filmed in four days . The music video premiered on February 17 , 2010 , on Paramore 's website . Williams confirmed that as part of a Valentine 's Day theme , the band selected cards that were sent to them by fans and featured them in the video . In an interview with MTV , Chesbro commented on filming the scene involving Williams lying on Valentine 's Day 's styled @-@ cards during the music video , saying , 
