Careers A–Z · Camera
DIT
The digital imaging technician sits between the camera and post. You protect the footage, manage the look on set, and make sure what the DoP saw is what the grade receives.
On a smaller job you may be a data wrangler, offloading and checksumming only. They are not the same grade.
The basics
Also known as, and where the grade sits.
| DIT | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | DIT, digital imaging technician. Data wrangler or data loader is the entry version of the job. |
| Level | Mid, and a department of one or two, working to the DoP. |
| Reports to | The director of photography, with a direct line to post. |
| Comes after | Data wrangler, camera assistant, or post. |
| Leads to | Senior DIT, colourist, workflow supervisor or on-set colour. |
The job
What does a DIT do?
You offload every card, verify with checksums, hold two copies before anybody wipes anything, and generate dailies and proxies to the specification post has asked for.
You build and manage LUTs and CDLs with the DoP, monitor exposure on waveform and false colour, warn when a highlight is gone, and keep the on-set look tied to what the colourist will get.
The unglamorous end: you are in a tent, a truck or a corridor for the whole day, you are the last department to wrap because the last card is still copying, and when a card fails it is your problem in front of an audience.
The requirement
What is a DIT good at?
Method, colour literacy and a temperament that does not gamble.
Data discipline
Never one copy. Never delete before verification. No exceptions, ever.
Colour
LUTs, CDLs, colour space and what the grade can recover.
Diagnostics
Finding the fault in the signal chain while the unit waits.
Communication
Telling a DoP the highlight is clipped, tactfully, immediately.
Post literacy
Knowing what the edit and the grade need from you.
Kit
Tools of the trade.
| What | The actual items |
|---|---|
| Cart | A build with UPS power, monitor arm, shelving and cable management that survives a unit move. |
| Machines | A fast laptop or workstation, RAID or shuttle drives, card readers for Codex, AXS, CFexpress and SD. |
| Software | Silverstack, ShotPut Pro or YoYotta for offload; Resolve or Livegrade for look management. |
| Monitoring | Calibrated reference monitor, waveform and vectorscope, LUT box, SDI distribution. |
| Look | Reference stills, CDL exports, a LUT set agreed with the DoP and post before day one. |
The unit
Who does a DIT work with?
| Who | What passes between you |
|---|---|
| DoP | Exposure, look and the LUT the show is being shot to. |
| 2nd AC | Card handover, naming and the report that comes with it. |
| Post and the editor | Dailies specification, proxies, naming, and how the media arrives. |
| Colourist | The look carried from set to the grade without being re-invented. |
| Production | Media budget, drive count and where the second copy lives. |
Routes in
How do I become a DIT?
A grade people arrive at from both directions, camera and post.
Data wrangler
The commonest entry: offload and verify first, colour later.
IT and engineering
Storage, networks and colour management transfer directly.
Manufacturer training
Camera and software makers run product training that is worth having.
No degree is required. This grade is judged on whether your workflow is trusted with a day’s footage.
A written workflow you can hand a producer is worth more than a certificate.
Nearby
The grades either side of this one.
The DIT is the join between the set and post. Read both sides.
Camera department guide
Everything free and worth paying for in this department, in the order to take it, with the books.
Never been on a set? Start here. Offered a first day? Read this first. Want to know where this grade leads? Where people have gone names people who trained here and the productions they went to.
