I am basing my research project around the aspect of performance and spectacle in adventure and extreme sports. I am researching into a several aspects of these events including narrative, vicarious audience experience and the glamorisation of risk, to examine the audience experience at different extreme sports events and applyingI will then apply these ideas to my personal experiences of adventure sport and explore the boundaries between sport and performance.

MY FIR

ST AREA O

F IN

VESTIGAT

ION IS

THE

CREATIO

N OF

NARRATIV

E WIT

HIN T

HESE

EVENTS; L

OOKING A

T HOW

STO

RIES A

RE

PRODUCED B

Y TH

E STR

UCTURE O

F TH

ESE

EVENTS, H

OW A

N ATM

OSPHERE O

F

ANTICIPA

TION A

ND EXC

ITEMENT

IS

CREATED A

ND HOW

A P

ERSONAL

CONNECTION IS

FELT

BETW

EEN AUDIE

NCE

AND ATH

LETE

.

NARRATIVE

Ref:(Harvard)

Horne, J. Tomlinson, A. and Whannel, G. (1999) Understanding Sport: An Introduction to the Sociological and Cultural Analysis of Sport. London: Routledge.

Summary: Representation, sport and the media

'Whannel (1982) examined the coverage of athletes Coe and Ovett, and argued that television narrativises events, turning them into stories with narrative structures that correspond in some ways to the conventions of literary narrative.' - 'Narrative and Television Sport: the Coe and Ovett Story' in Green & Jenkins Sporting Fictions

Application: I am interested in looking further into the idea of a narrative being created and a connection being built between the audience and the athlete. Narrative is created in several ways through sports events; there is often a large build up, advertisting etc. before the event. Then at the event there is normally an introduction of the athletes, sometimes presented with a soundtrack, and often given a backstory building connections between audience and athlete. The sport itself is often commentated and then a conclusion is generally brought by a winner being declared and some form of prize giving.

Ref:(Harvard)

Gruneau, R. (1989). Making Spectacle: A case study in Television Sports Production. In: Wenner, L, A. (eds) Media, Sports, and Society. California: Sage  

Summary: ‘The language of television sports is dominated by a sense of immediacy and actuality. Announcers talk incessantly about ‘event coverage’, ‘showing us the game live’ or ‘taking us to the stadium’.’‘Television sports production involves a wide range of processes of visual and narrative representation.’

Application: Televised sport is often constructed through an editing process which gives the viewer a heightened sense of excitement and thrill.

VISUAL REFERENCES

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf8Eqi8JBhw&list=SP-292yfpAFGYFF0zNNjPCppnSu3f9ofmO

Narrative is present in the heritage of the Olympics; the 4 years of anticipation from the last event and the concept of the Olympic torch all help to contribute to this. The winter Olympics is one of the events I want to research further into as it shows clearly the growth of ‘rebel’ culture within popular sport.

Ref:(Harvard)

 Staging the Spectacular - Misty Buckley ‘Making a Big Scene’

Summary: Designing stages to be filmed - different aspect to considerArenas - ‘soundtrack to design’'sense of inclusion of audience and performer' 'symbiotic relationship''scene is set by audience as much as stage'PilgrimageParalympic Closing CeremonyFestival of the flameRebellion - Channel 4 (adverts ect)Story of the peopleCreated a festivalMutoid WasteEverything made in house - communal feelSoundtrack to emotion, energy, atmosphere

Application:

MY NEXT

AREA OF

INTE

REST I’M

LOOKIN

G

AT IS

THE C

ONCEPT T

HAT T

HE AUDIE

NCE,

THROUGH W

ATCHIN

G THESE E

VENTS,

HAVE V

ICARIO

US ADVENTU

RE

EXPERIE

NCES BY

LOOKIN

G AT

THEORIE

S

SUCH AS, M

ASLOW

’S ID

EA OF

‘PEAK

EXPERIE

NCE’ AND C

SIKSZENTM

IHALY

I’S

IDEA O

F TH

E STA

TE O

F ‘F

LOW

’.

VICARIOUS ADVENTURE EXPERIENCE

Ref:(Harvard)

Gyimóthy, S. and Mykletun, R. J. (2007) Poetics of Thrill: Combining Underground Music, Video Arts and Spectator Sports in a Sport Festival. In: Kylänen, M. & Häkkinen, A. (eds.). Articles on Experiences 5: Arts & Experiences. Rovaniemi: University of Lapland Printing Centre.

Summary: ‘Poetics of Thrill’ looks at ‘Extremsportsveko’, an extreme sports and music festival in Voss, Norway. This article talks about the theories of Peak Experiences (Maslow 1968); Optimum level or flow experiences (Csikszentmihalyi 1988); deep play (Ackerman 1999). Expressing identities through sportTechnology driven advances in extreme sports'Vicarious' adventure experiences. ‘Commodification of adventure‘‘analysing practices of turning individual sensory experiences “collective”, i.e. available to a wider audience.’

Application: This articles looks at similar themes that I wish to explore within these types of events; how the audience experience risk and thrill within these events, it also introduced me to a lot of theories I want to further explore to explain why people are drawn to adventure and risk.

Ref:(Harvard)

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow – The psychology of optimal experience. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.

Summary: ‘The Body in Flow’‘The human body is capable of hundreds of different functions – seeing, hearing, touching, running, swimming, throwing, catching, climbing up mountains and climbing down caves, to name only a few – and to each of these there correspond flow experiences.’‘the simple act of moving the body through space becomes a source of complex feedback that provides optimal experience’Olympic motto ‘Altius, citius, fortius’ (Higher, faster, stronger)

Application: This book explains Csikszentmihalyi’s theory of ‘flow’, a state in which a person has ‘optimal experience’. This theory can be used to explain why people are drawn to physical risk and why an audience is drawn to such events to vicariously experience thrill as they feel connected to the athlete.

VISUAL REFERENCES

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WdBgqZ4ZbY‘Into the Mind’ is a film from Sherpas Cinema.I think it has relevance to my project as it tries to show the risk and excitement from the perspective of the athlete, looking at big slope skiers.It gives the audience an almost immersive experience.

‘Into the Mind paints a philosophical portrait of human kind. How do we balance risk versus reward? Why are we inspired to rise to the challenges in our lives and what do we learn on this journey to attain them?’

VISUAL REFERENCES

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkmgUe_4tBI

The Virtual Explorer series uses the science of binaural audio to help you conjure up the image in your own mind using the sense of hearing to imagine yourself out there in the natural world. So grab your headphones, follow the instructions in this video and immerse yourself in this unique experience.

The art of exploration is a sensory feast, a holistic outer and inner body experience that brings you ever closer to answering your soul's interpretation of what it means to get out and explore.

Filming and post production: Andrew King | D4 ProductionsAudio production: Thomas Glendinning

VISUAL REFERENCES

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSwBT6QRUjATake a view from the rooftops in our POV Parkour video of Cambridge, UK. Captured by Ampisound team member, James Kingston, we wanted to produce a video that showed some clean movement at a few of the choice spots in the city. With the improvement of video technology videos like this, taken from the point of view of an athlete are rising in popularity as they give a wider audience an insight into the experience of the athlete.

THE N

EXT CONCEPT

I W

ANT TO

EXPL

ORE

IS T

HE GLA

MORISAT

ION O

F RIS

K AND T

HE

‘OUTL

AW’ R

HETORIC

WIT

HIN T

HESE

SPORT

S; ATH

LETE

S PUSH T

HEMSELVES T

O

ALWAY

S PERFO

RM NEW

AND M

ORE

IMPR

ESSIVE T

RICKS A

ND WIT

H THIS

THE

ELEMENT

OF DANGER IS

ALW

AYS

PRESENT.

GLAMORISATION OF RISK

Ref:(Harvard)

McGillivray, D. & Frew, M. (2005) VICARIOUS ADVENTURE: TRADING EXPERIENCES IN THE SYMBOLIC ECONOMY, Glasgow: Caledonian University

Summary: ‘participants in adventure sports appear to be searching for tradable symbolic capital’

‘participation in adventure sports provides a marker of status and symbolic value’

‘It is proposed that participation in adventure sports activity is notsimply a personal consumption choice but, rather, needs to be shared in order to raise the individuals’ fund of symbolic capital. So, others must understand the symbolic value (or honour) ascribed to the experience.’

‘In this sense, those in receipt of these adventure narratives are, in effect, vicarious adventurers, consuming the adventures of others, albeitoften from the relative comfort of their living rooms.’

Application: Leading on from looking into vicarious experience and looking at how athletes record their personal experiences, it is interesting to consider the ‘symbolic value’ of these recordings and in turn how these athletes become idolised.

Ref:(Harvard)

Campbell, J. (1949) The Hero with a Thousand Faces. New York: Pantheon Books

Summary: ‘Through the inhabited world myths of man have flourished; and they have been the living inspiration of whatever else may have appeared out of the activities of the human body and mind.’

‘it will always be the one, shape shifting yet marvellously constant story that we find’

‘A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder; fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won; the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.’

Application: I found this text when I was researching the film ‘Into the Mind’ which has a sequence that is inspired by the concept of ‘the hero with a thousand faces’. I think it is an interesting concept to explore within the idea of athletes being idolised.

Ref:(Harvard)

Palmer, C. Death, danger and the selling of risk in adventure sports

Summary: "Danger, for its own sake, seems to me to be no better than drug taking as a social activity. Danger can be powerfully addictive, and those of us with no taste for it at all consider it as appalling as a taste for crack. It would be better not to glamorise danger, not to prize foolhardiness." - Polly Toynbee - Rose and Douglas -Regions of the Heart: the Triumph and Tragedy of Alison Hargreaves

Palmer, C. (1999) Smells like extreme spirit: punk music, skate culture and the packaging of extreme sports

'It is this conceptual collapse between risk and mainstream…. in that it creates the impression that anyone can take part in these kinds of activities…. these made-for-media versions of extreme sports are short-lived imitations of risk'

Application: This text looks into how risk has been commercialised.

VISUAL REFERENCES

The X Games is one of the key events I want to explore further within my research as it can be used to look at the glamorisation of risk, it is often credited with the risein popularity of ‘rebel’ sports such as skateboarding, bmx and motocross. The risk the athletes take is regularly emphasised within these events.

VISUAL REFERENCES

http://adventurefest.co.uk‘Adventure can be found all over the world, but this October and November, you can find it right here. Adventure is not outside man, it is within.’

AUTHENTICITY OF

EXPERIENCE

Ref:(Harvard)

Rinehart, R. (2003) Sport as constructed audience: A case study of ESPN’s The Extreme Games. In: Rowe, D. (eds) Critical Readings: Sport, Culture and the Media. Buckingham: Open University Press.

Summary:

'Spectacularism: A Fascination with extreme situations.' (Douglas Coupland, Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture)'how does ESPN create versimilitude - a 'you are there' feel and a sense of participation - for the viewer?''one of the themes of ESPN's The eXteme Games is the ideological paradox of this sporting event being done by normal people who perform extraordinary feats’'Generation X''producers and writers have constructed a sport-familiar metalanguage for viewers''human interest stories frame the events so that viewer identification with the athletes… is assured.''they have created a new mutated form of sport'refers a lot to ‘MTV style’ camera work and editting

Application: This article looks into the paradox’s of presenting ‘alternative’ and ‘rebel’ sports into popular culture and looks at how excitement and anticipation is artificially created by writers and directors.

Ref:(Harvard)

Kusz, K. (2003) BMX, Extreme Sports and the White Male Backlash. In: Rinehart, R & Sydnor, S (eds) To The Extreme: Alternative sports, Inside and Out. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Summary: ‘The popularity of the X Games has been instrumental in, if not creating desire for new ‘alternative’ sporting activities.’ ‘The creativity and the desire to be original are narrative tropes through which BMXers are frequently represented.’‘my interest in extreme sports relates to how, as a popular cultural site, it has become involved in a reactionary politics of representation which seeks to represent a strong, proud, confident, unconstrained and unapologetic white athletic masculinity’Paradox of ‘alternative’ sport being packaged and sold to a white, middle-class audience.

Application:

Ref:(Harvard)

Staging the Spectacular - Sodja Lotka

Summary: Shared space, music, weather and politicshttp://www.pq.cz/en/sharedspace.htmlOccupy, masks, theatricality - natural for activistsAuthenticity in contemporary performanceScenography as environmentResistance of existing communities creates theatreBurning Man; Kumbh Mela (10 million bathing together - Hindu Pilgrimage); festival of colour (India)Spectacle is made from people primarily'spectacle offers time and space for commumal participation'; 'Spectacle gives the possibility of the unexpected'; 'provides our inner need to participate'Ouside of reality

Application:

VISUAL REFERENCES

Red Bull X-Fighters, MexicoThese events are given concert like hype, with loud soundtracks and impressive light displays.

Action: In order to further understand my research into the audience experience

of extreme sports, I am going to refer to my own experiences of adventure sport and experiment with the ideas of performance within sport. This will also link to

how these experiences and communicated to an audience through film etc.

LENS TEXT

Question.A question is not just a simple way of asking something.

An academic question articulates your journey through your process, from start to conclusion. It draws on the Lens you are looking through and investigates the subject you

are looking at using a method.

Describe the connection

Summary Position.Where your thinking is at this point in the research

narrative.You can also use this to illuminate your thoughts

on blends of knowledge from your sources.

Conclusions / ResolutionsThis should draw together all the material in the research narrative.

The key here is to resolve your thinking. It doesn’t have to be definitive.

Acknowledging gaps and needs for future researchare acceptable contributions to a Conclusion