1. 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 applying
I will then apply these ideas to my personal
experiences of adventure sport and explore the
boundaries between sport and performance.

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3. (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
Ref:
'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.

4. 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.

5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tf8Eqi8JBhw&list=SP-292yfpAFGYFF0zNNjPCpp
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.
VISUAL REFERENCES

6. Ref:
(Harvard)
Summary:
Application:
Staging the Spectacular - Misty Buckley ‘Making a Big Scene’
Designing stages to be filmed - different aspect to consider
Arenas - ‘soundtrack to design’
'sense of inclusion of audience and performer' 'symbiotic relationship'
'scene is set by audience as much as stage'
Pilgrimage
Paralympic Closing Ceremony
Festival of the flame
Rebellion - Channel 4 (adverts ect)
Story of the people
Created a festival
Mutoid Waste
Everything made in house - communal feel
Soundtrack to emotion, energy, atmosphere

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VICARIOUS ADVENTURE
EXPERIENCE

8. 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 sport
Technology 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.

9. 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.

10. 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

11. 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 Productions
Audio production: Thomas Glendinning
VISUAL REFERENCES

12. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSwBT6QRUjA
Take 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.
VISUAL REFERENCES

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GLAMORISATION OF RISK

14. Ref:
(Harvard)
Summary:
McGillivray, D. & Frew, M. (2005) VICARIOUS ADVENTURE: TRADING
EXPERIENCES IN THE SYMBOLIC ECONOMY, Glasgow: Caledonian University
‘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 not
simply 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, albeit
often 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.

15. Ref:
(Harvard)
Summary:
Campbell, J. (1949) The Hero with a Thousand Faces. New York: Pantheon Books
‘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.

16. Ref:
(Harvard)
Summary:
Palmer, C. Death, danger and the selling of risk in adventure sports
"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.

17. 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 rise
in popularity of ‘rebel’ sports such as skateboarding, bmx and motocross. The risk the
athletes take is regularly emphasised within these events.
VISUAL REFERENCES

18. 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.’
VISUAL REFERENCES

19. AUTHENTICITY OF
EXPERIENCE

20. 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.

21. Ref:
(Harvard)
Summary:
Application:
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.
‘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.

22. Ref:
(Harvard)
Summary:
Application:
Staging the Spectacular - Sodja Lotka
Shared space, music, weather and politics
http://www.pq.cz/en/sharedspace.html
Occupy, masks, theatricality - natural for activists
Authenticity in contemporary performance
Scenography as environment
Resistance of existing communities creates theatre
Burning 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

23. Red Bull X-Fighters, Mexico
These events are given concert like hype, with loud soundtracks and impressive light displays.
VISUAL REFERENCES

24. 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.

25. LENS TEXT

26. 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.

27. Describe the connection

28. 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.

29. Conclusions / Resolutions
This 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 research
are acceptable contributions to a Conclusion