Page 75 - Introduction to Electronic Commerce and Social Commerce

64 • Sport, Media and Society

The bold, brass notes of the Match of the Day theme tune started as a sequence of
live action highlights were shown. The theme tune has been associated with football
on the BBC since the 1970s and evokes nostalgia and tradition (BBC theme tunes
can be heard at http://www.bbc.co.uk/fi velive/programmes/holmes_vote/). Close-up
shots of England players were shown, altered by an effect that made it appear as if
the spectator was looking through red-and-blue-tinted glass shapes. The sequence of

players in moments of triumph (including clearly identifiable shots of Steven Gerrard,
Joe Cole, Paul Robinson, Ashley Cole, Peter Crouch, Wayne Rooney, Sol Campbell,
Owen Hargreaves and John Terry, followed by the manager, Steve McLaren) ended
as the camera zoomed out to reveal that the images were being shown through the

ANALYSING MEN’S AND WOMEN’S FOOTBALL
The two matches analysed for this case study were both shown as editions of Match of the Day, a
long-running football highlights programme on the BBC, which occasionally broadcasts live events.
The fi rst match was a qualifying men’s football match for UEFA Euro2008 played at Wembley Sta-
dium, London, England, and broadcast on BBC 1 on 12 September 2007. The second was a group
stage match of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2007, played at Shanghai Hongkou Stadium, China, and
broadcast on BBC 2 on 11 September 2007. In our analysis, we wanted to focus on the simultaneity
of the fi ve channels of communication in televised sport: graphics, image, voice, sound effects and
music. Televised sport is packed full of signifi cation moving at pace, and to capture the overall effect,
we needed to record the two matches, then replay short segments of one or two minutes, noting activ-
ity in all fi ve channels, including, for example, the words of the commentators, the camera shots and
the noise of the crowd. Repeated rewinding and replaying was necessary to make sure all of the signi-
fi cation had been accurately identifi ed. This process constituted the fi rst stage of the analysis: denota-
tion, or the laying out of the interplay of sound and image in the fl ow of televised sport. Re-presenting
this complex information in a table like the following graphically demonstrates the simultaneity of the
communication channels and provides a basis for the second stage of analysis: connotation.

Graphics Image Voice Sound effects Music
Shots of Wembley Arch
Aerial shots of Wembley
Football fans milling
outside stadium
Quiet crowd noise
Crowd noise becoming
louder
Live action highlights
Muffl ed ‘England’
chant

Match of the Day
theme tune