Recently this question has come up in conversation quite a bit with producers and directors – what is a DIT?. DIT (Digital Image Technician) is quickly becoming a key crew position and for very good reasons. With the evolution of high-end digital cameras and the many formats and codecs that are floating around it is important to have a position designated to ensuring the utmost quality possible with the digital cameras used on set, as well as providing a smooth transition between production and post-production. This is where the DIT comes into play.
Think of it as a camera and video technical assistant, colorist, data manager and IT all wrapped into one. Although backing up all media and ensuring data integrity is a key responsibility for this position, DIT is not to be confused with data wrangling. Managing video village; calibrating monitors; assisting with camera functions; digital exposure assistance; quality and shot assurance; backing up and transcoding footage; doing a one light color grades; ensuring smooth post-production workflow; and even assembling dailies is just a few things DIT is capable of accomplishing on set.
Red Sky Pictures goes the extra step in making it possible to walk into an edit bay the day after wrapping production and begin editing a pre-assembled edit, instead of spending the next few days or weeks preparing the RAW footage into an editable format. This ends up saving the production a great deal of time and money. If you are shooting your next project on a high-end digital camera we highly recommend you a consider a DIT to make your shoot run smoothly and help relieve you of all the stress associated with technical complications that can and will go wrong on every set.
The technical issues that we have helped clients deal with over the phone AFTER the shoot could have been completely eliminated, saving hours and hours of time, as well as potential shots that have been lost or rendered completely unusable for one reason or another. Red Sky has skilled DIT’s with full equipment stations ready to come on board your next project. Get in contact with us to talk more about how we can help your shoot get from set to post without the headache or spending more time and money than you need to.