Bruce Schultz
Well-known member
The DIT job needs a rename.
After spending over three decades working as a DP/Operator, I recently made the transition to DIT work in Los Angeles. On set I perform a myriad of duties that really don’t apply to the traditional role or job description of the DIT position in full.
At the beginning of the new millennium, I used to take jobs called DIT positions which had almost exclusively to do with camera setup, things like matix adjustments to match multi-cam setups to basic single camera setup on set, prior to shooting. This was about all we did with tape based cameras like Varicam and Sony F900.
Then came media capture replacing tape. The DIT then became also or exclusively known as a Data Wrangler whose job was the offloading of the camera media on set for post production processing later.
Now DIT work has evolved to a much higher level of workflow. My daily on set workflow consists of live camera signal grading, followed by secure error-checked offload of captured camera media, audio files syncing, primary regrades based on live grades, then export to NLE friendly dailies files like .mov or .dnx. On some productions I even incrementally backup to LTO archive at the end of a shooting day.
I am working on a pricing breakdown that shows how much money is saved by doing all of these necessary steps on set vs being done by post production facilities, because all of these duties except live camera signal grading have separate lines on almost all production budgets in the post production pages. The biggest advantages I have found are that any problems with footage are easily recognized on set and dealt with immediately rather than being discovered some days or weeks later after wrap, and also that the DP and Director’s preferred look for scenes and shots are embedded in dailies struck on set. My metadata workflow includes all this ASC-CDL info for editorial and colorists to refer to months down the line and know how and why each shot/scene has a specific look. A DP who can't be at the final color session can rest easy that their look is known to the post people via this metadata and their look embedded in the dailies.
I apologize if I seem to be rambling or worse ranting, but my post here is to see if anyone has a better name for this position than the old DIT moniker, as the job and it’s duties have evolved far beyond the original version. In this latest daily on set workflow it seems that most of the work involves front-end post production duties, audio syncing, dailies creation, and LTO archive. Perhaps something like Pre-Post Technician would describe it better, but perhaps there is a better name suggestion waiting out there to be discovered.
DIT work has in some ways actually devolved to a sorry state where I sometimes hear of productions hiring little more than interns to show up with a laptop and a USB drive to drag & drop the camera media on to for little more than minimum wages. Ok, like anything you get what you pay for and as the old advertising adage goes “when the client gets what he wants, he gets what he deserves”. I for one would like to kick this new DIT workflow up a notch or two, not downwards though.
Please post any name upgrades you might think of to this thread.
Bruce Schultz
hollywooddit.com
After spending over three decades working as a DP/Operator, I recently made the transition to DIT work in Los Angeles. On set I perform a myriad of duties that really don’t apply to the traditional role or job description of the DIT position in full.
At the beginning of the new millennium, I used to take jobs called DIT positions which had almost exclusively to do with camera setup, things like matix adjustments to match multi-cam setups to basic single camera setup on set, prior to shooting. This was about all we did with tape based cameras like Varicam and Sony F900.
Then came media capture replacing tape. The DIT then became also or exclusively known as a Data Wrangler whose job was the offloading of the camera media on set for post production processing later.
Now DIT work has evolved to a much higher level of workflow. My daily on set workflow consists of live camera signal grading, followed by secure error-checked offload of captured camera media, audio files syncing, primary regrades based on live grades, then export to NLE friendly dailies files like .mov or .dnx. On some productions I even incrementally backup to LTO archive at the end of a shooting day.
I am working on a pricing breakdown that shows how much money is saved by doing all of these necessary steps on set vs being done by post production facilities, because all of these duties except live camera signal grading have separate lines on almost all production budgets in the post production pages. The biggest advantages I have found are that any problems with footage are easily recognized on set and dealt with immediately rather than being discovered some days or weeks later after wrap, and also that the DP and Director’s preferred look for scenes and shots are embedded in dailies struck on set. My metadata workflow includes all this ASC-CDL info for editorial and colorists to refer to months down the line and know how and why each shot/scene has a specific look. A DP who can't be at the final color session can rest easy that their look is known to the post people via this metadata and their look embedded in the dailies.
I apologize if I seem to be rambling or worse ranting, but my post here is to see if anyone has a better name for this position than the old DIT moniker, as the job and it’s duties have evolved far beyond the original version. In this latest daily on set workflow it seems that most of the work involves front-end post production duties, audio syncing, dailies creation, and LTO archive. Perhaps something like Pre-Post Technician would describe it better, but perhaps there is a better name suggestion waiting out there to be discovered.
DIT work has in some ways actually devolved to a sorry state where I sometimes hear of productions hiring little more than interns to show up with a laptop and a USB drive to drag & drop the camera media on to for little more than minimum wages. Ok, like anything you get what you pay for and as the old advertising adage goes “when the client gets what he wants, he gets what he deserves”. I for one would like to kick this new DIT workflow up a notch or two, not downwards though.
Please post any name upgrades you might think of to this thread.
Bruce Schultz
hollywooddit.com
