Russell Howards Good News introduction deconstruction

00:00 00:05 The introduction begins with a white background, a green sign that says Title Sequence and a doorframe with an open door. A cardboard cut-out of Russell Howard stop motion walks through the door and the camera tracks him. As he walks, cardboard cut-out newspaper clippings come from the top of the screen on string and appear to attack him. This is done to reflect the attitude that current news is very head on in its approach to the public and we are frequently attacked by constant scare mongering news stories. It also implies that certain social cliques are attacked or portrayed in a negative light in some news stories (e.g. Immigrants). The binge drinking toddler headline exaggerated but is meant to imply the ridiculousness or irrelevance of some news articles today so it is very relatable and humourous to the audience as they are directly affected by these outlined issues and it also reinforces that the intention of the show is to make a mockery of the news.

00:06 00:10 Russell walks past a TV screen with Sarah Palin. He waves and she waves back, the camera continues tracking him as he walks past a toy panda on its back. People will find this relevant, as Sarah Palin will have been in recent news at the time that the show was first created. In addition to this, she is a very recognisable figure as she was a candidate for presidency in the U.S. 2008 elections. The casual wave that they exchange is done to humble Sarah Palin and light heartedly undermine her importance. This establishes that making fun of politicians and political news will be common theme throughout the show.

00:11 00:15 Russell walks up some pennies stacked like steps and then walks onto a radio. He steps onto the radio on button and some radio quotes fall down into the foreground of the shot. The radio quotes are most likely humourous or controversial things that have been said by significant political or influential figures that have garnered the attention of the media. This continues the theme of humour and making fun of the news and politics respectively. In the background, there are various toy cars. This has two effects, the first being that the cars are everyday objects that reflect a normal British family household. This will be the primary audience of this show and therefore is relatable. The second is that, because the scenario imitates a car sale area, it will be relatable to adults. The cars piles on top of one another implies the chaotic nature of purchasing a new car and the fact that they are toy cars imply that salesmen often treat their customers like children when convincing them to make purchases.

00:16 00:20 Russell jumps down off the radio and walks past a recycling bin full of for sale signs. He pushes over a mobile phone displaying a news website. The phone represents the wide availability of news sources in the modern world. This will be relatable to many people as newspapers are dying out and phones are very popular as ways to get your news. The for sale signs in the bin are meant to represent the shambles that is real estate. Between inflation and cuts, many people have been having to sell their houses and houses are very expensive so people feel like they are throwing money away (hence the bin).

00:21 00:25 As he walks through the door, he walks past a sign with the name of the show on it. The camera zooms in and focuses on the sign. The title of the show is on a sandwich board, which are a very common sight outside of newsagents in Britain. This solidifies the relevance to a British audience and keeps in tune with the news theme that the whole show rides on. The phone is tipped on its side in this shot, but is very big. This implies that news dominates technology and the fact that Russell pushed it over represents that everyday people are more powerful than technology and the news and he is able to make fun of it.