Sydney New Year's Eve 2007–08 was the 13th Sydney New Year's Eve held at Sydney Harbour on the evening of 31 December 2007 and in the early hours of 1 January 2008. Network Ten broadcast the event for their second consecutive year, with Kim Watkins and Andrew Günsberg co-hosting. The theme was previously revealed to be "The Time of Our Lives" with fireworks once again produced by Foti International Fireworks. This was Wayne Harrison's third and final consecutive year as creative director, being succeeded by Rhoda Roberts.
Broadcast
Times
Presenters
9pm Family Fireworks
Desperate to atone for the previous year's debacle, Network Ten replaced Gretel Killeen and Daniel MacPherson with Kim Watkins (host of 9am with David and Kim at the Sydney Opera House) and Andrew Günsberg (host of Australian Idol at Dawes Point) respectively. The Dawes Point reporter was Fuzzy from Video Hits. The celebrations kicked off with The Potbelleez performing "Don't Hold Back". After that, a recording was done, which showed a scientist predicting what the world would be like in the year 2050, which would be affected by global warming. The presenters at the Royal Botanic Gardens were Wesley Denning from Totally Wild, Pip Russell (dressed as Alice in Wonderland) and Dan Sweetman (dressed as a white rabbit) from Toasted TV and Dr. Rob Bell from Scope (who was the only one not in fancy dress), as the theme for the Lord Mayor's Picnic was "Once Upon a Time". It included face painting, Wesley Denning dressed as Prince Charming to wake up Pip Russell who was playing Sleeping Beauty with a kiss. Denning said the fairytales are about "magic" which is what Pip said about the fireworks, but Dr. Rob begged to differ on that, stating that fireworks are scientific. He did a recording on it. He started off with saying that fireworks "come from a range of different colours, all of which are due to the excited states of different metal atoms". He decided to take a salt that contains a metal, opting to use table salt, because it's sodium chloride. The flame was blue, but it became an orange colour, because "all of the sodium atoms in there are getting really, really excited". He tried a copper one, which made the flame a green colour. He said fireworks work on the same principle as a match. It is a chemical reaction called "combustion". He lit the match. He also said that fireworks don't use wood as a fuel, but they use charcoal and sulphur. To do his own demonstration, he used sugar as a fuel, in the form of a jelly baby. For oxygen, he said you can't use air with a match because "it just doesn't create big enough explosions". So instead, he used chemicals called oxidiser that contain lots of oxygen. So he held a test tube (which had the sugar at the bottom) by the tweezers and rolled the jelly baby in the sugar (not the one in the test tube) and eventually he combined them. He put the jelly baby in the test tube, which triggered a chemical reaction. That was the end of the recording. After the commercial break, Tarisai Vushe, Ben McKenzie and Jacob Butler all performed, then the three of them performed "Dancing in the Moonlight". After the commercial break, Andrew Günsberg handed proceedings to Wes, Pip, Dan and Dr. Rob at the Lord Mayor's Picnic to lead the countdown. Dr. Rob stated that in the ten seconds it takes to count down to the fireworks, an object, travelling at the speed of light, could go around the Earth seventy times. Then they led the countdown and the fireworks started off in style, starting off with "What Time Is It?" from High School Musical 2.
Soundtrack
The fireworks finished with "The Time Warp" by the The Rocky Horror Show Australian Cast Album. Kim Watkins described it as "breathtaking" and "very, very loud" from where she was. After another commercial break, Kim Watkins interviewed the Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore. Moore said the display was "technically stunning and magnificent night tonight" and it was "quite spectacular" for the 1 million people that gathered around Sydney Harbour. People also learn that the event is "fifteen months in the making", starting from October the previous year. It's 15 months for the design and planning. The organisers also discuss the next Sydney New Year's Eve event. Moore said that it is helped by thousands of volunteers, council staff and the design team, led by creative director Wayne Harrison (who was embarking on his third and last event as the creative director), who would be succeeded by Rhoda Roberts. She says it showcases Sydney to its really best and described the fireworks as "spectacular". She says the theme of the event will make it more exciting than previous years and it is a celebration, looking forward to the future with hope. She decided to use the theme of "time" as she thought it was time to think about the planet's future, global warming. Wayne Harrison came up with "The Time of Our Lives". She said one of the issues going into 2008 was "sustainable Sydney". At Dawes Point, Fuzzy interviewed some people about the highlights of 2007 and their New Year's resolutions. Back at the Opera House, Kim Watkins interviewed a man named Stewart Davies, a World of Difference participant from Vodafone. Before Ten went to a commercial break, a recording was done of some of the events that happened in 2007. After the break, Kim Watkins interviewed a man named Richard Watson, a trends forecaster. Andrew Günsberg interviewed Susan Pratley, Catherine Cox and Selina Gilsenan. After the interview, Sarah Blasko performed "Planet New Year".
Midnight Fireworks
The midnight segment of the telecast started off with Andrew Günsberg visiting a few people in boats.
Soundtrack
The Harbour bridge was used as a seventh barge for the first time ever.People witnessed over 100,000 firings.[1] The hourglass was intended to stay on the bridge until 12 January but it had to be taken down because it was knocked around by high winds.[2]
References
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- 9pm Family Fireworks
- Midnight Fireworks
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