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Production3 min read

LESSON 114

The job of the DIT

Between the camera and the edit.

IN THIS LESSON

  1. Why the role exists
  2. On set
  3. Data and quality
  4. Practice: doing the DIT job yourself

Why the role exists

The digital imaging technician, or DIT, is a camera-department role created as the film industry moved from film cameras to digital cinema. The DIT works with the cinematographer on workflow, camera settings, signal quality and image manipulation, so that the creative goals of the photography survive in the digital world. The role links the time on set with post-production. Before it existed, video engineers, video controllers and shaders did similar exposure and colour work on live television, and those jobs still exist in broadcast.

On set

During shooting the DIT monitors exposure, sets up a colour decision list, or CDL, each day and, when asked, builds lookup tables for post-production, so the look the cinematographer intends is visible on monitors and carried into the edit. The DIT also handles the camera's menus, such as the recording format and the outputs, and coordinates the internal settings of each camera at the direction of the director of photography. This is especially useful for cinematographers trained on film who want to control the digital image with the same precision.

Data and quality

The DIT is responsible for backing up the camera data and metadata at least twice daily with checksum verification, and for quality checks on the material. They may write copies to LTO tape for long-term storage and send a transfer copy to post-production with reports. They can also generate working copies for the editors. As a courtesy, they secure the audio recorded by the production sound mixer. A digital loader or data wrangler may work under the DIT; the DIT can wrangle data, but a wrangler does not do the DIT's image work.

Practice: doing the DIT job yourself

This is working practice. On a small shoot, give someone the DIT tasks even if they hold another title. Their checklist: confirm every camera's frame rate, resolution, codec and colour settings each morning; load the same viewing LUT on every monitor; check exposure with a waveform; back up and verify every card; make proxies for the editor at the end of the day; and write a short daily report of clips, issues and settings. Keep it calm and repeatable: the best DIT days are the ones nobody remembers.

Try it today

  1. 01Write a morning camera check list for your camera.
  2. 02Load one viewing LUT and apply it on the camera and laptop.
  3. 03Copy and verify one card as the DIT would.
  4. 04Make proxy files of three clips for an editor.
  5. 05Write a five-line daily report and file it with the drives.