A digital imaging technician (DIT) was created for the

motion picture industry The film industry or motion picture industry comprises the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking, i.e., film production companies, film studios, cinematography, animation, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, post- ...

in response to the transition from the long established film movie camera medium into the current

digital cinema Digital cinema is the digital technology used within the film industry to distribute or project motion pictures as opposed to the historical use of reels of motion picture film, such as 35 mm film. Whereas film reels have to be shipped to mo ...

era. The DIT is the camera department crew member who works in collaboration with the

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the recording of a film, television production, music video or other live-action piece. The cinematographer is the chief of the camera ...

on workflow, systemization, camera settings, signal integrity and image manipulation to achieve the highest image quality and creative goals of cinematography in the digital realm. With the progression of the digitization ever more tasks concerning data management emerged: the position of the Digital Imaging Technician was introduced. The DIT is the connector between on-set time and post production. DITs support the camera team with technical and creative tasks with the digital camera. Their purpose is to ensure the best technical quality possible, as well as production safety. DITs are responsible for tasks during preparation, on-set time and post production. They are also responsible for managing data on set, such as making backups and quality checks of the material. In post production, the DIT hands the recordings to the post production team, possibly after checking the quality of the material and generating working copies. Data backups and quality control are of great significance for the DIT who has to make sure that the original camera data and

metadata Metadata (or metainformation) is "data that provides information about other data", but not the content of the data itself, such as the text of a message or the image itself. There are many distinct types of metadata, including: * Descriptive ...

is backed up at least twice daily, ensuring

data integrity Data integrity is the maintenance of, and the assurance of, data accuracy and consistency over its entire Information Lifecycle Management, life-cycle. It is a critical aspect to the design, implementation, and usage of any system that stores, proc ...

with checksum verification. Furthermore, the data may be backed up on LTO tape which is hardier than electronic devices and is used for long-term storage. Another copy must be made on a transfer data carrier that will be sent to post production along with the reports of the content. Again, the data has to be backed up. The data has to be accessible at all times and should be saved in a system where it can be reviewed, displaying the metadata of each clip. The DIT's role on-set has become especially prevalent through assisting cinematographers, normally accustomed to

film stock Film stock is an analog medium that is used for recording motion pictures or animation. It is recorded on by a movie camera, developed, edited, and projected onto a screen using a movie projector. It is a strip or sheet of transparent pl ...

, in achieving their desired look digitally. This is accomplished by the DIT through monitoring picture exposure, setting up Color Decision List ( CDL) on daily basis and, if requested, "look up tables" ( LUTs) for the post-production. Additionally, the DIT handles any settings in the digital camera's menu system, such as recording format and outputs. As a courtesy, the DIT also secures the digital audio recorded by the external

digital audio Digital audio is a representation of sound recorded in, or converted into, digital signal (signal processing), digital form. In digital audio, the sound wave of the audio signal is typically encoded as numerical sampling (signal processing), ...

recorder operated by the

Production Sound Mixer A production sound mixer, location sound recordist, location sound engineer, or simply sound mixer is the member of a film crew or television crew responsible for recording all sound recording on set during the filmmaking or television production ...

Related positions

Alongside the digital imaging technician, the digital loader position has also been created. Digital loaders may be independent or work under a digital imaging technician. A data wrangler is another common term for the role of digital loader. A digital loader supports the camera department by managing, transferring and securing all the digital data acquired on-set via any digital cinematography cameras, interacting with the 2nd AC. Depending on the scale of the project, the DIT can also wrangle data, but never the opposite. In tradition with the classic role of film loader, the 2nd AC may alternatively take on the responsibility of digital loading as an additional duty. A digital loader may also be called a loader, DMT (Data Management Technician), data wrangler or film loader. Loaders usually, however, have responsibilities in addition to data wrangling, like maintaining the camera truck and completing paperwork for the camera crew. Traditional

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

loaders also continue to be employed on film productions where the skills of a DIT aren't applicable. Prior to the DIT position and its focus on on-set image work, several other positions, including video controllers, video shaders and video engineers performed similar functions of exposure and color control on a live video feed. While video positions still exist (especially in live broadcast and studio television), the DIT position has become commonplace in cinema, commercials and digital television.

References

{{film crew Filmmaking occupations Cinematography Digital art