How do you become a DI Tech?

[lafilmprod]

I work in telecine for F2T, T2T at a higher end facility and I know post-production aspects really well at this point. I think that becoming a DI Tech for the RED Camera, or assistant position wouldn't be a difficult transition based on the experience I've had with HD equipment on my job. Any thoughts on how to get into the DI Tech world? I know they're freelance, but I wonder if they have some sort of connection through the camera rental houses?

Any advice would be much appreciated, thanks!

--Bryan

 

[Zakaree Sandberg]

learn the camera as much as possible.. read alot of posts here...

 

[lafilmprod]

Thanks for the reply Zakaree. At this point in time I've read several of the posts here as a non-member and just recently, as a member. I've attended several seminars and expos featuring the RED the past year. As a colorist I've received several HDSR tapes outputted from Assimilate's Scratch. I've explored the different outputs from R3D Raws, converted ProRes, DNxHD from the several programs from Nitris, FCP, to Cineform and more. Coming from telecine I have to assist DPs in their position on the post end, and let me tell you with this major film to HD transition that has really been lead by RED as of late, it has been a real task keeping up with the amount of changes that have come about. I'm about to get some hands on experience in the next couple months with the camera directly. I'm just curious if there are any DITs on here, or if anyone knows someone who has taken that path and how they went about it. With a bit of deductive reasoning, I would guess either specific camera houses would assign or recommend a DIT when production rents the camera, or it's just like an AC: you get with the DP. Just testing the waters in different proverbial 'ponds' to get the word.

 

[M Most]

I work in telecine for F2T, T2T at a higher end facility and I know post-production aspects really well at this point. I think that becoming a DI Tech for the RED Camera, or assistant position wouldn't be a difficult transition based on the experience I've had with HD equipment on my job. Any thoughts on how to get into the DI Tech world? I know they're freelance, but I wonder if they have some sort of connection through the camera rental houses?

Any advice would be much appreciated, thanks!

Well, for one thing, be prepared to make less money, and to be your own billing department and accountant.

The lure of production is strong for those who haven't worked in production. But the truth of the matter is, especially in the current economic mess, that the security and rather significant salary one can make as a full time colorist - or even assistant colorist - in post production is very attractive when compared with the freelance life and insecurity that comes with working in production. I learned that the hard way, and I learned it long before the mess we're in right now. One shouldn't let potential fun factors dictate what might or might not be a sensible career move. I'm not saying to pursue or not pursue it, I'm just trying to provide some food for thought.

 

[lafilmprod]

These are great points mmost. We've got quite a perfect storm on our hands between the economic downfall, the SAG contract holdout mess, and well, the whole "Bush still has 104.5 days left to do more damage to this world" thing... I believe Cheney would call all this a "quagmire", but I digress...

I'm just curious at this point. There is a major change-over to many of the media related industries because of the above and the big HD push over the last couple years. The people (designers and users) that have gotten onboard with RED are ahead of the game as I've seen, I planned to go freelance (as I was before this job) in post, and I'm seeing a definite connection with what a DIT needs to know with handling a camera and what I already know with an SR deck/ computer and an HD capture card. I see it as a benefit to be able to work freelance onset with a camera that has familiar features and freelance in post facilities as well. Two outlets for freelance possibilities and a better understanding on both sides.

 

[M Most]

I'm just curious at this point. There is a major change-over to many of the media related industries because of the above and the big HD push over the last couple years. The people (designers and users) that have gotten onboard with RED are ahead of the game as I've seen, I planned to go freelance (as I was before this job) in post, and I'm seeing a definite connection with what a DIT needs to know with handling a camera and what I already know with an SR deck/ computer and an HD capture card. I see it as a benefit to be able to work freelance onset with a camera that has familiar features and freelance in post facilities as well. Two outlets for freelance possibilities and a better understanding on both sides.

None of this is new to those of us who have been in the industry for a while. When the F900 first appeared, and it became apparent that it would occasionally be used for television series and feature work, there was a great deal of interest among colorists in moving towards "on set color correction," which some thought would become popular. It never did because it's a job that doesn't belong on a film set, with its unpredictable viewing conditions and inherent time pressures and general level of chaos. Not to mention that in many cases - sitcoms in particular - this job was already being done by video operators, who have been doing live camera shading for years and are very, very good at it. Many of the cameras developed since then - Genesis, Viper, and Red in particular - are relatively adjustment free devices, at least at production time. That is part of their design criteria. In the case of Viper and Genesis, the generally accepted way of working with these in terms of sensible set monitoring is to use LUT's that are created during pre-production to take the "untweaked" output of these devices and display a "proper" image. In the case of Red, it is much the same, although in most cases, you're applying Red's own LUT (usually Redspace, occasionally Rec709) to accomplish the same thing. The job of data wrangler is a different job than a DIT, with very little overlap of skills. While it might be interesting to be a camera tech, it is a lot of responsibility, not a lot of pay, and a lot of hours spent waiting for problems to happen. And when they do, you're the guy everyone - and I mean everyone - is looking at and blaming for the thousands of dollars per minute that are being lost while you fix the problem. Not exactly a rewarding experience in a lot of cases.

None of us know what the future will bring in terms of either post or production crewing, but it is rather unavoidable that the trend will be towards minimizing non-essential personnel. Someone who is only needed when things go wrong is often considered non-essential because they are not accounting for their salary when things are working correctly. That may seem like backwards thinking, but it's the way producers generally see it. So while it may seem like a necessary position to fill today, I can easily foresee a day fairly soon when either the cameraman, the 1st AC, or the loader will be expected to know enough about the camera that they can deal with the occasional glitch. So I'm not sure the future is exactly bright for this type of position.

But I could be wrong.

 

[Hans von Sonntag]

We have a few clapper-loader on our list who do the "DIT" job for our shoots. Actually there is no real "DITing" with the Red camera. Data-wrangling is done by the clapper-loader who now does backup data and "load" CF cards instead of loading film mags. Painting/colorist skills are not required.

An experienced 1st or 2nd camera assistant needs a weekend to understand how the Red works and where the glitches are. In any higher budget production a second body is on standby.

The skills of a Red-tech are closely to an Arri-tech (clapper-loader / 2nd assitant camera) if we talk about the general work on set. All lenses, accessories etc. are the same. Only the menue is different (yes there is a menue in the modern Arris).

Owing a Red and shooting many jobs with the cam I never understood why a neew breed of cam-techs are neccessary.

Telecine might fade away sometime, a talented Colorsit will stay. Red and its future competitors rely on the work of a colorist as they rely on the talent of the cameraman. Colorist is a well paid job today with a bright future, IMO. Whereas there are many camera assistants right now who read the Red's manual.

Hans

 

[lafilmprod]

"...a lot of responsibility, not a lot of pay, and a lot of hours spent waiting for problems to happen..."

That sounds like an average day for my Engineer at work... he's unpleasant

Thanks for the insight on your shoots Hans, your workflow corresponds with what mmost mentioned with minimizing non-essential personnel. From my post-production perspective, I think color-corrected dailies will get phased out fairly substantially, but yes finals will be where all the attention will go. It's funny how things change and we get surrounded by a lot of personnel and equipment that are destined to become vestigial as soon as things become fully standardized... that's technology for ya'!