You may remember the brilliant Computer Friends [Stack the Memory], which snagged over 700,000 Utube views. That was the work of director/musician/video stars The Sniper Twins – the alter-ego of New York-based MTV creative directors Barry Flanagan and Dax Martinez-Vargas, who have gone on to make (and feature in) the Chocolate Shoppe video for Hershey’s chocolate, a trailer for new MTV sitcom The Hard Times of RJ Berger – and now this utterly mental new video for French Horn Rebellion.

Made for buttons, it nonetheless features an alluring Sky Siren (played by sexy vocalist Deirdre Muro) in the clouds above Brooklyn – and a cameo by Barry as ‘water pistol victim’.
The very smart Sniper Twins are also now repped in the UK for both videos and commercials, signing to SkinFlicks for music videos and to Independent for ads.

French Horn Rebellion
Beaches & Friends
Directors: Sniper Twins
DoP who shot most of it: Jason Vandermer
Special FX, Compositing & Green Screen: Spek Studios
Titling: Sniper Twins
Additional DoP, first scene on roof excluding Sky Siren: Evan Felts
Playback and assistance: Hudson Mueller
Additional Help and Thanks: Jon Hokanson, E.J. Mcleavey-Fisher, Nathan Lynch, Josh Sampson, Rajiv “Jify” Shah, Cameo Gallery / Lovin Cup Café
Watch: Quicktime movie

Sniper Twins’ Barry and Dax talk to Promo News making the video for French Horn Rebellion’s Beaches & Friends (thanks Laura!)

What was the inspiration behind the disco sky goddess and the general psychedelic vibe?

When we had last seen the boys, they were just two hipsters in Williamsburg hanging out on the street. We wanted to start off in that world, but then take them somewhere unexpected.

We thought the sky goddess was a nice way to connect with both the themes of inspiration and the coaxing girls that tell the band they’re HOT. Though the sky goddess muse inspires them to spread their wings and fly, on the cautionary side, putting too much of themselves in her hands, they’re lead to their demise. Originally, the sky goddess was supposed be made up of about 10 different girls that constantly shuffled and never settled on one, but budget didn’t allow. Luckily, Deidre Muro, who sings the hook, is pretty damn foxy.
The psychedelic vibe and any overall mysticism came about from just being turned on by stuff like Holy Mountain, Kasabian’s music videos, and Native-American themed everything in fashion these days. We’re also inspired by gypsies.

What was the most challenging part of making the video?

Just trying to bring everything together for no money was rough. Having an ambitious idea didn’t help. Graphics work was a big obstacle, but fortunately, Spek Studios in Brooklyn helped us out since they dug the song and the idea.

I spotted a Sniper cameo in the video – water pistol victim #1. Was that Dax or Barry? why did you enjoy getting involved in front of the camera as well as behind it?

That was Barry Bangs. Originally, we had wanted it to be an older gentleman in a suit, Lawrence Fishburne like, for example. But due to last minute scheduling and lack of budget, we ended up digging the idea of bringing Barry back in front of the camera like in the Broken Heart video. However, this Barry is very different emotionally than the Barry in Broken Heart. Perhaps time hasn’t been good to him and he now spites the band, or it’s just his twin.

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