Occupational Profile
Multi-skilled Broadcast Engineer working on location.
Skills and knowledge required for this occupation cover work in Cameras, Vision, Sound, Media Management, Lighting, Radio Transmission Systems and Networking Technologies.
Once competent to this standard, opportunities can lead to further specialism in the individual craft or engineering disciplines listed above.
An Outside Broadcast (OB) Engineer works on location to provide picture and sound coverage of an event. Typically this work can include live relays of sporting, music or other cultural events but may also involve recordings of dramas or music captured on location away from a studio. OBs are commissioned to provide content for TV, web, live cinema and corporate events from venues such as sports stadia, theatres, concert halls – or locations with little or no direct facilities to help the production such a farms, factories, historic buildings or churches.
An OB crew may be based in an OB truck – a television studio gallery on wheels equipped with the same facilities needed in a fixed site installation – or they may be required to assemble a production gallery within a venue.
Knowledge of safe working practices, a multi-skilled approach to the job and an enquiring mind that is able to problem-solve are all essential attributes of the OB Engineer. Whilst this is a technical role, there is a high degree of creativity required to work closely with a production team to deliver content right for the target audience and in keeping with the constraints of the location.
Summary of standard
Full standard
https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/media/1122/outside_broadcasting_engineer.pdf
