SixTwentySix Productions director AJ Favicchio has directed the new music video Older for multi-platinum singer-songwriter Elektra Records artist Alec Benjamin. A Miles & AJ Production, Older is essentially a sequel to Alec’s The Way You Felt, the first project that Favicchio worked on together with the singer that Alec wrote during a darker time he was experiencing amid physical isolation during Covid-19. Co-directing partner Miles Cable edited the visual.
The track is a cathartic, touching tune with its video exploring and becoming “a slice of Benjamin’s childhood.” The film opens with Alec, 27 years old, preparing to meet his childhood friends. Via subtitled captions sharing his narrative, he explains his birthday had him reminiscing of his younger days which is why he wrote Older in order to bring him back together with his boys and relive the “good old days.”
Following the singer on a bumper car race track, viewers are introduced to the brood Alec grew up with: his friend Colin who was the glue of the group; his oldest friend Alex, who he met in 2nd grade; and Evan, now a doctor. Friends Mitch, Carson, and Dane are also along for the trip down memory lane.
Riding a yellow school bus that Alec reveals he wasn’t allowed to drive, he and his friends stop at the tennis court they used to frequent as kids and where he confesses he also kissed an ex-girlfriend for the first time. Ultimately, the boys end up at their high school alma mater where Alec explains he began to play guitar to impress a girl. He discloses it’s also where he discovered reggae music and the likes of famous musicians like John Mayer and Jason Mraz.
Alec then waxes nostalgic on how he and his buddies would play Rock Band where only he could hit the high notes. The video ends by Alec revealing that making this video reaffirmed the notion for him that “no matter how old you get, it’s never too late to be a kid.” He goes on to share that “youth shouldn’t be defined by trips around the sun, but by the places you went and the friends you made.” Watch below:
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“The blueprint was kind of laid out already and we knew what we wanted to do for this video,” shares SixTwentySix director AJ Favicchio. “It was Alec who threw out the idea of going back home and having his friends in the video and going to an amusement park.”
Behind the Scenes
Flying to shoot in Arizona, Favicchio was joined by his producer and DP who met Alec and his friends there to begin filming using an Alexa Mini. The team found a huge estate that allowed for everyone to stay there and simultaneously utilize it as their shooting location. The hardest technical challenge for the cast and crew were the 105-degree days and lack of rental vehicles for the production.
“I will say the process of writing the narration and visuals fell into place really well and his story/lyrics was something I could really relate to,” explains Favicchio. “After the first video we did together, I think Alec was very trusting of the vision.”
Much of the same team that joined Alec on The Way You Felt video production once again returned for creating Older, which also allowed for a seamless production.
“We had a lot to accomplish in a short couple of days but the narrative supported the shooting style and vice versa,” reveals Favicchio. “I worked with DP Luke Hanlein on The Way You Felt and it was such a success that bringing everyone back together on part two had to happen. Between Luke, Alec, and I, we were all on the same page with a clear vision of what we wanted to capture. Adding Miles — my directing partner, who was off shooting another video and not present on this one — tackling the edit, it came out quite literally exactly as we planned.”
“A huge aspect to this was Alec’s friends and they were all so cool and couldn’t have been more fun and easy to work with,” says Favicchio. “That was going to make or break a shoot like this — as we were essentially all living-working together. It truly was a 10/10 on every front.”
“The song lyrics resonated with me so much on an ‘I am still a kid, oh wait my friends have kids who are the age we were when we met’ level. While the story in the captions is Alec, there is so much of me in there as well,” admits Favicchio. “One of my favorite lines that didn’t make it in is ‘youth is wasted on the young, wisdom is wasted on the old.’ It’s so appropriate and speaks volumes to how tricky life can be.”
CREDITS:
RECORD LABEL: Warner Music
ARTIST: Alec Benjamin
PRODUCTION COMPANY: SixTwentySix Productions
- Directed by AJ Favicchio
- Written by Miles & AJ
- Edited by Miles Cable
- Executive Producers: Austin Barbera & Jake Krask
- Directors Rep: Tommy Labuda
- Head Of Production: Kai Yuricich
- MGMT: Nathan Chwat
- MGMT: Lindsay Brandt
- MGMT: Lizzie Schaff
- Commissioner: Mandee Mallonee
- Producer: Evan Thicke
- Production Manager: Jami Acreo
- DP: Luke Hanlein
- Gaffer: Tim Knight
- Swing: Bruce Truitt
- Key Grip: David Klotz
- 1st AC: Joe Cheung
- 2nd AC: Irma Gram
- Groomer: Maria Micsunescu
- BTS Photographer: Megan Leetz
- PA: Alin Vann
- PA: Bernard Smith
