Page 69 - Introduction to Electronic Commerce and Social Commerce

58 • Sport, Media and Society

be thought of as not so much adding to the meanings of the event, but limiting their
polysemy. The comments they make often close down the number of possible mean-

ings the images may have. For example, the sight of a player leaving the field of play
may be interpreted by the viewer as an instance of injury, poor play or coaching strat-
egy. Commentators may supply the explanation with inside knowledge or their own
speculations. Voices of players, spectators in the crowd or referees (e.g. in rugby)
occasionally insinuate themselves into the soundtrack, altering the television audi-
ence’s sense of distance from what is happening and providing further information
about how to interpret the events on screen, and even those out of shot. The sound of

booing from a crowd may indicate an off-screen scuffle, a perceived poor refereeing
decision or a response to a player’s unsportsmanlike behaviour.

Music

Music is a central feature of sport programming. Music heralds the start of shows or
events (national anthems), creates atmosphere and indicates a programme’s content.
The recurrent association of a particular sport with a theme tune allows it to evoke
all of the associations of that sport in a few bars. The BBC’s soca theme tune that is
regularly used for cricket programming evokes Caribbean sunshine, relaxation and
joie de vivre, drawing on historical associations with the Test Match series between
England and the West Indies in the 1970s and 1980s, which drew capacity crowds.

Sound Effects

There are plenty of sources of sound in televised sport in addition to voices and music.
We could call these ‘sound effects’ or, perhaps more accurately, simply ‘sounds’. The
ambient sound of a stadium, bats hitting balls, shoes squeaking on a court surface,
starting pistols, car engines roaring and players grunting all make up the soundscape of
sport. The sound of commentators speaking adds to this soundscape, but the content
of what they say is not the only aspect worth noticing. Much of the atmosphere of
televised sport, and a lot of its affective appeal, is conveyed through sound. It is illumi-
nating to compare televised sport broadcasts from the 1970s to current programmes.
One of the greatest differences is the quality of sound. A video clip of Brazil versus
England from the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World
Cup held in Mexico in 1970 is available on the BBC Web site at http://news.bbc.
co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2006/4850280.stm. The soundtrack is muddy
and indistinct. The tinny sound of the commentator appears distant from the action,
and while there is constant crowd noise, it merges with ambient sound, including
wind noise over the microphones, so that the overall effect is an indistinguishable low
hum. Sounds emerging from the players or play itself or crowd songs or chants are
not heard within the soundtrack. Listening to this old footage indicates the important