Streaming Spotlight: The Sniper Twins Take Aim

It was a hard decision where to go next, but the Sniper Twins opted to get their work out there and continue their partnership with Seagate, even if it meant getting paid in terabyte hard drives (Flanagan still has a stack of them).
Seagate also gave the video a promotion push, which got it mentioned in the leading tech blogs. As of this writing, "Computer Friends" has been viewed on YouTube more than 700,000 times. 

The Twins learn something with every job-the Seagate job taught them that they had to get paid next time. They made the video by calling in a lot of favors and getting people to volunteer their time. But the pair couldn't rely on that again. They promised everyone money from the next project. 

Since finding a sponsor hadn't turned out to be all that difficult, they had planned to do cold calls again. But the next job came from a friend of a friend. The Twins created a song called "Chocolate Shoppe" and managed to get Hershey interested through a contact.

Before they began work, though, they created a short video called "Lunch With Devon," in which they made fun of their own impulses to look conservative, not creative, in front of businesspeople. "Lunch With Devon" serves as a bridge between the two videos. 

"Chocolate Shoppe" opens with a scene of the Twins sitting in front of Hershey execs, learning that Hershey is excited to work with them. The scene was a fantasy, says Flanagan, since getting together with a client takes so much more time in the real world. 

"These things take several months of emails, and people not getting their email, and then it going to their trash, and then them getting back to you, and then they're busy for 2 weeks, and then they're on vacation, and then, finally, you might shoot something," jokes Flanagan.

The Twins approached the "Chocolate Shoppe" video much more professionally, working with a producer and visiting the Hershey plant twice on scouting trips. They were looking for visual gags they could use or ideas they could blend into the lyrics. 

"Some of the lyrics matched up with the visuals, and that wouldn't have been possible if we didn't know, for instance, [that] if it's dark in the factory, you walk a few feet and motion sensors turn on lights around you," says Martinez-Vargas.

All the filming for "Chocolate Shoppe" was done in 1 day (although they wish they'd had 2), and some Hershey factory workers played on-screen roles. They were able to work quickly because they'd created a structured storyboard for the shoot. They were also able to pay their crew the going rate. 

The lesson they learned at Hershey was that they needed to work out the promotion strategy ahead of time with the next client. While the Twins were happy to work with Hershey, they were disappointed that the candy giant didn't give the video a little marketing boost. The video has currently been viewed more than 24,000 times on YouTube, far fewer times than "Computer Friends." 

The Hershey shoot also taught the Twins how valuable a producer is. The producer they used handled a multitude of minutiae, such as getting shooting insurance, arranging transportation for the cast and crew from New York, renting the cameras, and acting as a liaison with Hershey. 

While the boys can't go into detail about the project, the next Sniper Twins creation will be one for MTV. It will involve young viewers in social change. Then, they have plans for a romance song (which is a perfect fit for a cell phone company, says Martinez-Vargas) and a club jam. 

The Twins' successes come from their willingness to create their own route to viewers and income in online video. 

"We just want to do creative projects," says Flanagan. "It could be anything from making a product to making an art piece to making a video to making just a song; making a mix-tape; making an end table. Right now, our main focus is with video that incorporates music and cool imagery." 

By the look of their early successes, the Twins' work could take them wherever they want to go.