{"id":102873,"date":"2018-06-18T15:03:53","date_gmt":"2018-06-18T20:03:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/?p=102873"},"modified":"2018-06-22T15:12:56","modified_gmt":"2018-06-22T20:12:56","slug":"production-101-digital-imaging-technician","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/production-101-digital-imaging-technician\/","title":{"rendered":"Production 101: What Is a Digital Imaging Technician"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ever wonder what a Digital Imaging Technician (DIT) is, and what they do? In this article, find out everything you need to know about this important role.<\/h2>\n

Cover image via Fedorovekb<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Digital Imaging Technician (DIT) is the member of a film crew who makes sure the production meets its technical objectives on set. So what does that mean? For starters, DITs must be equal\u00a0parts\u00a0technician, creative consultant, and computer whiz. They must be able to interact with, assist, and advise the most important people on set.<\/p>\n

As PremiumBeat Contributor\u00a0Jonny Elwyn<\/a>\u00a0said in part 12 of his exhaustive 21-part series<\/a> on the DIT’s role, “[The DIT] is an emerging and challenging role which requires a huge breadth of understanding of digital imaging and the gymnastics an image goes through to make it to screen.”<\/p>\n

Yeah \u2014 this isn’t a job for everyone.<\/p>\n

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The\u00a0DIT’s Job<\/h3>\n

The DIT\u2019s laundry list of on-set responsibilities\u00a0breaks down\u00a0into three categories: data wrangling and protection, dailies, and assisting the DP and camera department.<\/p>\n

Data Wrangling and Protection<\/h4>\n

\"Production
\n<\/a>Image via Fedorovekb<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

A common misconception on low-budget sets is that the DIT simply transfers footage off of camera cards. The truth is that this is only the first step of a well-trained DIT’s process. As cards\u00a0get filled, the DIT\u00a0must properly transfer the footage to redundant archival drives, ensuring that\u00a0one drive failure will not result in any lost footage.<\/p>\n

When transferring footage, it’s vital that both drives\u00a0receive footage\u00a0copied from the source media. In other words,\u00a0two card transfers:\u00a0once for each drive. You cannot transfer the card to drive A and then take that copy from A to drive B. This would defeat the purpose of redundant archival drives. Unless both drives contain footage transferred from the source media, you do not have redundant copies of the footage.<\/p>\n

There are many custom-built tools for transferring media designed with DITs in mind. The most common are Shotput, Adobe Prelude, Parashoot, and (my personal favorite) Resolve\u2019s Clone Tool \u2014 see the .gif below for a super quick-and-dirty run-through of how to use the Clone tool and where to find the transfer logs.<\/p>\n

\"Production<\/a><\/p>\n

These programs allow you to simultaneously copy footage from your source media to multiple archival drives and then provide bit-for-bit comparisons between the copied data, allowing the DIT to rapidly verify the integrity of the transferred footage.<\/p>\n

After copying the source media and verifying\u00a0the successful duplication of\u00a0information across all archival drives, the DIT should perform a visual confirmation of each clip, scrubbing through to check for any issues.<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, it is absolutely imperative that different people take the archive drives from set. If anything happens to one of the drives (or the person with the drive), the crew should never have to worry about everything they’ve shot up until that point. Their focus should be on the\u00a0affected crew member, not the equipment.<\/p>\n

These first two aspects are fundamental. Proper duplication and strict adherence to safeguarding the footage against all possible threats lie at the core of all of the DIT\u2019s data responsibilities.<\/p>\n

Dailies<\/h4>\n

Dailies are the \u201cprints\u201d or \u201cselects\u201d from a day’s shooting (synced with sound and with basic color correction) for department heads to review\u00a0in order to plan\u00a0any necessary re-shoots.<\/p>\n

\"Production
\n<\/a>Image via Shishkin Dmitry<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The DIT assembles dailies as media and camera\/sound notes come in. It is incredibly important for a DIT to have the proper tools and programs to quickly sync sound and apply basic color correction.<\/p>\n

Dailies, like data wrangling, account for only a small\u00a0portion of the DIT’s responsibilities. However, dailies\u00a0need to be completed as\u00a0quickly as possible so that the DIT is free to fulfill the final portion of their on-set responsibilities.<\/p>\n

Chief Assistant to the Camera Department<\/h4>\n

\"Production
\n<\/a>Image via Evgeniy Kurt<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

It is the DIT\u2019s responsibility to walk on set, day one, with a complete plan to assist the camera department. They must have had discussions with the proper people in the post-production pipeline regarding resolution, aspect ratio, codecs, frame rates, LUTs, etc. It is the job of the DIT to communicate and assist in the implementation of these specifications with the camera department, specifically the assistant camera. They must have a\u00a0thorough understanding of these parameters so that they may advise the DP or assistant camera about any shot.<\/p>\n

The DIT must be available to build looks for each scene in the camera, matching color between shots, advising on exposure, or offer any other imaging assistance at the DP\u2019s request.<\/p>\n

The DIT should be the DP\u2019s best friend on set. A good DP will know to rely on a good DIT; the DIT, in return, must be comfortable approaching the camera department at the earliest\u00a0sign of any potential issues with the footage. They\u00a0must be ready and waiting, not only for cards but also for any opportunities to solve problems for the camera department.<\/p>\n

A DIT\u00a0who has mastered\u00a0these core disciplines is one of the most important people on any shoot. The vigilant, active DIT brings complete reassurance to the production’s leadership. The producers, directors, financiers, etc. know that there is a keen and watchful eye reviewing and protecting their project.<\/p>\n

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Looking for more production tips and tricks? Check out these articles.<\/p>\n