Gastone Ferrante

I started as a stills photographer's assistant, studied editing at Cinecittà, and cut documentaries and shorts in Rome — until the RED One came along and I went to work with DIT friends instead, first managing data, then doing the job. It's not work anyone can teach you; you learn it on the floor, night after night, shoot after shoot.

A DIT since 2010, supervising workflows since 2016, on features and episodic drama in the UK and on location — most recently Gladiator II with Ridley Scott and John Mathieson BSC, plus supervision on Ferrari, House of Gucci, Ripley and The White Lotus — and, on Cruella, one of the first dual SDR/HDR pipelines ever run live on a set.

Most of the hard work happens in prep and camera tests. A set runs calmer when nobody has to think about the tools — when the look travels forward on its own and the crew can spend the day on the film instead of the workflow. We're not performing brain surgery; the picture still has to be right.

From my perspective, the difference between a poor and a properly prepared film is huge.