Viper's View is an online news comedy series on the Russia Today channel, featuring Irish comic, Francis "The Viper" Higgins giving his insight into world events and current affairs. Whilst this series is more of a comedy series than a news show, I feel it takes an interesting and very entertaining take on news - since we are leaning toward a fun/sillier channel than typical news brands, this seemed like a good choice to seek inspiration.
The series is almost exclusively based on voice over video clips, with graphical elements accompanying the visuals, which gives the feeling that we are watching the news and interpreting it as Higgins does in his videos. As we cannot see his face (although he does make some appearances in some videos), the voice takes over and his words shape the meaning of the clips.
The journalistic nature of Viper's View is virtually non-existent, his views are almost purely opinion and almost off-the-cuff, sometimes with no context to the topic he is discussing. This is where the comedy element shines through, so here, Higgins is prioritising entertainment over informativeness. I think that our news piece will aim to focus more on the informativeness, but I would also like to add to the comedic elements as Higgins does in Viper's View.
Each video has a good pace and rhythm to it, despite his somewhat monotone delivery - I think the delivery compliments his character and again, adds to the comedic tone of the series. The editing plays into part with this with use of graphics to put emphasis on what is being said to enforce these words onto the audience. There is also good use of stings and transitions to bridge the gaps between news stories.
Whilst Viper's View may not be the best news channel, I feel that it works well to incorporate news into comedy, which is something I would aim to do in our news piece. I would also like to draw some inspiration from his editing style to our piece, as I feel it fits with the online market and adds its own energy to the storytelling.
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