Experience on these difficult productions is invaluable for directors, says Ian Russell

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In some ways, outside broadcasts are like Liquorice Allsorts: they’re all different and not everyone likes the taste. They cover sport, music, entertainment, news and current affairs – and occasionally one-off events that the world is clamouring to see.

When TV viewers first outnumbered radio listeners for the 1953 Coronation, it was the day OBs came of age.

Then, as now, sitting down to direct an event that only happens once can feel as if you’re about to transmit what amounts to your rehearsal. It’s an acquired taste.

I’ve directed small two-camera OB inserts, 40-camera events such as Commonwealth Games ceremonies and multi-scanner events like royal weddings. This has put me in the middle of a wonderful web of technology, surrounded by skilled people, with 10 or more individual production teams in separate trucks and well over 100 cameras to put on air.

The experience gained on one OB is so often applicable to another, however dissimilar they may appear. I learned about ‘crossing the line’ while directing One Man And His Dog sheepdog trials, about pacing and motivating cuts covering Shakespeare, and about holding my nerve on a BBC Proms, when the orchestra refused to fully rehearse in front of the cameras.

Experience is key, which is why I was so pleased that OBs were a core part of the Directors UK multi-camera directors’ training course. Not only did it give the six delegates solid foundations in shooting interviews, running live galleries and directing music, but also built on these skills by providing two days of OB work.

Using Pinewood’s TV3 gallery and an OB truck provided by Cloudbass, we produced a training exercise based on an awards show.

The delegates had to work across the two galleries and jointly react to unpredictable situations. It was great to see the speed at which they adapted their plans to suit the changing circumstances and how well they worked together.

If these six and others like them are given their chance, then in years to come, huge OBs that the world clamours to watch, perhaps the next Coronation, will be in safe hands. ­

Ian Russell is a producer and director

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