RTÉ News - Santa Report.

crosstownk

Nice to see RTÉ News do the usual Santa report on Six-One. Great for the kids - "it was on the news so he is real!!". Nice to see it, tbh.

Ruu_Old

Always loved that, "Santa expected to touch down at...".:)

crosstownk

He's due at 2359 > http://www.dublinairport.com/flight-information/live-arrivals.asp

Santa tracking option available in the Parenting forum...............

Wertz

There's only one complaint I have about this feature (which is on the whole, great)....why can't they use some new footage? I mean they've been using the current one (two shots of the man himself, one with a setting sun in bg) for at least 7-8 years IIRC. I'm also of the opinion that they use the same audio clip (Paschal Sheehy?) and definitely the same script...
Also, it sure is a slow newsday when it's 4th in the bloody bulletin (last night's)....used to be they'd do it almost last or at least as last of the news items before the sport.

I'm not being bah humbug here...it's just the usual laziness on behalf of RTÉ production team IMO.

Ray777

It was the last item on the news last night (both 6-1 and 9:00). The reporter was Gareth O'Connor (I think it was different audio to last year). As far as I recall, it used to be Colm Connolly every year, but I think he may be retired now.

Mossy Monk

Wertz wrote:

There's only one complaint I have about this feature (which is on the whole, great)....why can't they use some new footage? I mean they've been using the current one (two shots of the man himself, one with a setting sun in bg) for at least 7-8 years IIRC. I'm also of the opinion that they use the same audio clip (Paschal Sheehy?) and definitely the same script...
Also, it sure is a slow newsday when it's 4th in the bloody bulletin (last night's)....used to be they'd do it almost last or at least as last of the news items before the sport.

I'm not being bah humbug here...it's just the usual laziness on behalf of RTÉ production team IMO.

do you think children are going to give a rattling **** about the production values of a news report about Santa?

Kojak

Ruu wrote:

Always loved that, "Santa expected to touch down at...".:)

When I was younger I was always excited to see it as well, but as I got older I just found it a bit condescending or patronising.

Wertz

Mossy Monk wrote:

do you think children are going to give a rattling **** about the production values of a news report about Santa?

nope but then it's not the kids paying for it.

My point is it's cheap and tacky...if they want to do something worthwhile like this every year why not spend, ooh saay the price of one of their useless laptops and do smething with some pizazz...

Mossy Monk

again it is for children and i dont think children really give a ****

Deflector

Agreed with Wertz on this one. It was lazily produced this year, as it has been for the past two or three. They just pulled some stock 'pretty' footage off the wires and tacked it together with little to no direct connection to the V/O.

No facts and figures about speed of light or getting around the globe, no mock interview with Met Eireann forcaster about the weather or token Mr Knowledgable from UCD discussing the logistics of it all, nor any inventive use of Irish footage featuring Irish homes or locations.

No - lets get this over with and shove Gareth O'Conner out to the Merrion Centre to get a few kiddy vox pops, and tack them with the finesse of a steamroller onto some cropped 4:3 snowy footage from 1987 we have at the back of the video library. Sure that'll do grand :rolleyes:

And the cut at the end, both video and audio, to Presentation was abysmally crass. Typical slapdash RTÉ News attitude.

J.R.HARTLEY

jesus considering the diabolical piece of ****e at the start of the Toy Show i thought this was as good as it got

legendal

More of the same this year, just vox-pops and a woman with a telescope. Best bit came in the weather, with Gerry Murphy looking at the isobars and pointing out that the air flow means Santa's likely to come up from the south

MisterAnarchy

It was nice allright but inaccurate.
Some parts of the Pacific are 12 hours ahead of us so Santa has to start his journey alot earlier than 6pm GMT if he expects to get there before dawn I'm afraid.

themadchef

I like it. Not that it's that believeable.

It's just kinda the whole idea of "OMG if he's on the new it must be real". Fair play, bit of a tradition now.

Aidric

Always remember watching this myself as a child. It has its place regardless of production values.

copacetic

Wertz wrote: »

nope but then it's not the kids paying for it.

My point is it's cheap and tacky...if they want to do something worthwhile like this every year why not spend, ooh saay the price of one of their useless laptops and do smething with some pizazz...

why spend money on it to keep the odd internet nutter like us happy? Kids would never know the difference and it is for them.

what 'useless' laptops are you talking about anyway?

MagicMarker

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

It was nice allright but inaccurate.
Some parts of the Pacific are 12 hours ahead of us so Santa has to start his journey alot earlier than 6pm GMT if he expects to get there before dawn I'm afraid.

I'm sure all the kids are livid by their inaccuracy.

Elmo

Anyone see the sky news Santa report?

Spoiler for the kids:-

they had a graphically generated Sleigh with Rudolph up front!!!

Perhaps it was a dream

mental07

copacetic wrote: »

what 'useless' laptops are you talking about anyway?

I reckon he means the ones that the newscasters have on their desks during the bulletins.

Not sure whether they are useless and just for effect, or whether they actually use them...

I loved the Santa report when I was a kid, tbh I haven't seen it the last few years so can't comment on the production values!

Elmo

mental07 wrote: »

I reckon he means the ones that the newscasters have on their desks during the bulletins.

Not sure whether they are useless and just for effect, or whether they actually use them...

The RTÉ logo on the back of them, I notice that TV3 started to copy that trick as well! oh! look we have our logo on our laptops.

copacetic

mental07 wrote: »

I reckon he means the ones that the newscasters have on their desks during the bulletins.

Not sure whether they are useless and just for effect, or whether they actually use them...

I loved the Santa report when I was a kid, tbh I haven't seen it the last few years so can't comment on the production values!

oh, well then they do use them, they certainly aren't for show. all news companies have them, although some have them built into the desks.

Wertz

copacetic wrote: »

why spend money on it to keep the odd internet nutter like us happy? Kids would never know the difference and it is for them.

what 'useless' laptops are you talking about anyway?

I don't know, kids these days have so much more shiny and flashy well produced things to compare this to than we would have had back when we were kids...how hard would it be to move with the times a little and spruce it up a bit? It's only a one minute "and finally" piece but it does mean a lot to kids (it did when I was one anyhow)...it's a wee bit patronising to say they don't notice "Ah sure they're only kids"...

As for the useless laptops? I mean the Dell ones that RTÉ had to stick their little logo on to, that get cursory glances from Ní Bheoláin et al throughout the buletin and then have their lids closed for that dramatic finish to the programme as the credits roll.
They read the news from teleprompters, including anything that breaks during the broadcast...IMO the lappies are there mostly for show, because someone saw them in a UK news studio, and thought it'd make the place seem a bit more edgy and in touch...and with that set decor who can really blame them?

Elmo

Wertz wrote: »

They read the news from teleprompters, including anything that breaks during the broadcast...IMO the lappies are there mostly for show, because someone saw them in a UK news studio, and thought it'd make the place seem a bit more edgy and in touch...and with that set decor who can really blame them?

They have had computers on their desks for the last 10 years.

it's a wee bit patronising to say they don't notice "Ah sure they're only kids"...

and Santa isn't???

Wertz

Funny how they never needed to be in plain sight until the last 2 though...they had monitors under glass built into the desk about3-4 yrs back...I don't recall seeing any PCs prior to that. I'll take you word for it though.

As for the Santa thing? It's christmas. If it aids parents in getting their excited brood off to the leaba then it's all good. That doesn't mean to say it has to be bargain bin library footage year in year out.

This thread is now over 2 yrs old...I didn't catch the christmas eve bulletin this year but I can only guess that it was the usual footage and some of those nice graphics from the NASA santa tracker website thrown in.

Elmo

Wertz wrote: »

Funny how they never needed to be in plain sight until the last 2 though...they had monitors under glass built into the desk about3-4 yrs back...I don't recall seeing any PCs prior to that. I'll take you word for it though.

Well they have keyboards on the desk. Don't know if that it proof that they actually had PCs (1990)