Behind the scenes of “The Last of Us“ with DIT Mitch Bax 

Mitch Bax is a seasoned DIT based in Vancouver with over 13 years of experience working across TV and feature films. Most recently, he brought his expertise to Season 2 of HBO’s acclaimed post-apocalyptic series The Last of Us. In this interview, Mitch takes us through his setup, color workflow, and the unique production challenges of a show this scale. And yes, we also get into the unforgettable moment when the camera department pushed the idea of a „flexible DIT setup” to its limits by transforming their camera slush truck into a DJ booth for Pedro Pascal’s farewell party –  headlined by none other than DIT/ DJ Mitch himself. 

Mitch’s journey as a DIT began by working on many formats, from network television to features and commercials he took on as much as he could which helped develop a flexible mindset when approaching a project. Although he returns to Commercials from time to time, his primary interests are in long-form storytelling: „The hours can become tiresome, but the reward of seeing a final product on the big screen or my home theatre is hard to beat“, he shares. And working on The Last of Us was particularly special to him: „I loved playing the video game, so to be part of the show was a dream come true.“ 

I loved playing the video game, so to be part of the show was a dream come true.

Responsibilities, setup, and workflow

On The Last of Us, Mitch was mainly responsible for signal distribution and color management – tasks he could fully focus on thanks to support from his loader, Alex Lemmon: „The data management was overseen by myself but handled by Alex, which freed me up to focus on set-related tasks“, Mitch explains. He describes his on-set workflow as „pretty straightforward“, before elaborating: „I would ingest a signal from the camera using a Teradek Bolt 6K, apply a LUT, and then distribute that to the rest of set“. Video Playback was handled by their playback operator, Amanda Trimble, who provided a feed Mitch could use to show playback to the DP when needed.

Despite the generally streamlined workflow, the project came with its fair share of challenges – from demanding shooting locations and harsh weather conditions to a large, distributed crew. These factors required Mitch’s full expertise in maintaining color consistency, managing complex signal routing, and designing smart, flexible setups. Let’s take a closer look.

Call me old school, but I prefer to relay color concepts and ideas in a conversation.

With the camera department split over two Canadian provinces (Alberta and Vancouver), clear communication became crucial. As Mitch points out, sometimes nothing beats a one-on-one conversation: „I oftentimes found myself up late at night taking phone calls, sending messages, and sharing files with my second unit DIT Katie Matheson to ensure continuity between units. Call me old school, but I prefer to relay color concepts and ideas in a conversation. There are always notes and files to use as a starting point for everyone to follow, but oftentimes, I would have long phone calls with our dailies colorist Richard Cordes to ensure the right ideas were conveyed in case further adjustments were needed“. 

To maintain flexibility in such a dynamic production environment, Mitch relied on two interchangeable carts, built to easily swap out components like monitors, LUT boxes, mounting systems, and iris brackets as needed: „My setup is broken down into two ideas: a portable kit, and a non-portable kit“, Mitch explains. 

His main cart is a custom build from Bigfoot Carts in California. „I designed it with the help of their owner out of a 80/20 Aluminum. I have custom-cut moulded plastic to contain the cart which allows me to fully box in all of my electronics. It has shock absorbers built into the rack mount, and a breakaway bottom half in case I need to lift it into a truck or lose the wheels and stereo it down.“, Mitch explains. 

This setup is complemented by a mini cart, which is also a custom designed using 80/20, which is basically „just strips of aluminium with slotted sides“, as Mitch puts it. The benefits of this design lie in its flexibility: „Think of it like Lego“, Mitch says, „I can attach anything I want since the slotted aluminium allows me to drop in a secure bolt so I can tie down arms, plates, hinges, or swing bars.“ While the mini cart offers less desk space due to its more vertical layout, its lightweight, modular construction proved invaluable on set: „The mini cart saved my back time and time again on The Last of Us because pushing down into a creek bed is so much easier when your cart is 5 times lighter,“ Mitch recalls. 

The mini cart saved my back time and time again in The Last of Us because pushing down into a creek bed is so much easier when your cart is 5 times lighter.

However, narrow creek beds were only the beginning: „I knew I was up against some challenging locations, such as Episode 2’s mountain. So I spent a lot of time tweaking my DIT Box so it could LUT- and image capture 3 cameras full time (but usually more, depending on the day).“ The ‚DIT Box‘ that Mitch is referring to is essentially a Pelican case holding a portable DIT system, it was developed by DIT Chris Bolton and Upgrade Innovations. „So you can run the core functions for a DIT cart in something the size of a piece of luggage,“ Mitch explains. 

Thanks to a Shape Quick Release, Mitch’s DIT box could clip onto the back of a quad or even sit on an apple box. From there, he would use either the vehicle’s infrastructure or his portable cart to mount monitors and accessories, keeping him nimble and ready to change locations: „We were constantly moving from different vehicles, rigs, and environments, so it was important my builds were flexible and fast,“ he explains. 

We were constantly moving from different vehicles, rigs, and environments, so it was important my builds were flexible and fast.

To stay ahead, Mitch would often have his DUT pre-rig the mounting system and cables while he was still working on a scene. “And when we cut to move on, I would unclip from the cart and onto the next platform. This helped me move between platforms very quickly, such as the mobile mountain quad.”

That „mobile mountain quad“ was a Polaris Ranger, a four-wheel, off-road vehicle. It was outfitted with snow tracks capable of climbing the mountain and keeping pace with the dozens of remote locations they had to reach. It proved to be the perfect choice, as Mitch explains: „I had the option of using a Snow Cat instead, which is a large diesel vehicle with tracks that is typically used in the mountains. But I wanted something smaller and faster so I could get closer to the action for my DP, Catherine. And it worked!“ He continues: „With the help of some grip rigging, I built a frame that could hold all my mounts, and a closable blackout flap system around the back so you could pull right up into set and then simply walk up to the monitors and start working.“ 

Episode 2 brought a unique set of challenges that required Mitch to prepare quickly and efficiently under tight time constraints. „The challenge was that we needed to shoot all of the exterior mountain scene for two episodes of work within one week.“, he explains.  „When we shot on Fortress Mountain in Kananaskis, there were 2 units and over 600 people on the mountain at one time – so the logistics of coordinating were some of the most complicated I’ve seen in years.“ 

When we shot on Fortress Mountain in Kananaskis, there were 2 units and over 600 people on the mountain at one time – so the logistics of coordinating were some of the most complicated I’ve seen in years.

With so many people, pieces of equipment, and vehicles in play, speed and organization were critical – especially with the added complication of harsh weather conditions: “Every morning before sunrise we would load all of our equipment into pull sleds from the warm lodges and shelters that had been built on the side of the mountain. Then we hauled the sled to their respective vehicles, and once everything was connected and tested, we would drive our convoy to set.“ 

And „set“ could mean anything, as Mitch shares: „Sometimes our set was the peak of a mountain and sometimes it was a narrow chute, and in that week we saw everything from clear blue skies to a sideways blizzard. Needless to say, the hardest part was keeping the electronics warm.“ To keep his gear running, Mitch placed a portable electronics heater near his DIT Box to warm his tented area. But in extreme cases, even that wasn’t enough: „Sometimes I would have to tape Hot Shots (portable warming packs) or USP powered heaters to my monitors or laptop to keep temperatures up.“

In addition to this mobile setup, Mitch used a second cart for studio work. In this controlled environment, space was less of an issue, and he took full advantage of it: „It sounds silly, but having a nice fold-out desk with lots of room for you and your DP to set up laptops, paperwork, and snacks can not be overstated,“ he says. 

It sounds silly, but having a nice fold-out desk with lots of room for you and your DP to set up laptops, paperwork, and snacks can not be overstated

With the added space, Mitch implemented a Whaley Rail system from Upgrade Innovations to create a modular monitoring setup that could quickly adapt to changing needs: „Each camera had a large dedicated monitor rather than a quad split, plus I added a full-time 25“ OLED dedicated for reference images.“ Another standout piece of gear for Mitch? The Stream Deck XL. „You can have an entire page dedicated to color control and switching in Livegrade. I cannot overstate how freaking sweet that is! Switching the entire routing distro with a single button push is critical for multi-cam work. I now exclusively grade with my Stream Deck; hot tip: you can fine-tune the adjustment amount in Livegrade so the control is very finessed.“

One of the newer tools Mitch had the opportunity to use was ARRI’s Hi-5 FIZ system, a wireless hand unit for camera and multi-axis lens control, which left a strong impression.  „First of all, a round of applause to Arri. I was not a WC4 fan but I have become a diehard Hi-5 user since The Last of Us“, he says. „Here’s the thing, they have a 900 MHz module that gives them fantastic range beyond the usually crowded 2.4G band. This was important because the style of lighting for the show was wide and broad. We had (very) big sets, and oftentimes I was asked to be far away from the action. The demanding show runner did not want to be waiting on moving villages or accidentally see some tents if the shot rapidly evolved (which it often did), so having my iris and camera control in the 900 Mhz range was a necessity.“

That said, range isn’t always the priority, especially when weight and camera footprint matter. Mitch had to constantly weigh flexibility and performance: „Range isn’t always the answer, as the added RIA-1 module that allows for 900 MHz adds weight and bulk to a camera and because the operators often utilized minimal designs for all the handheld work, I would constantly flip between 2.4G and 900 MHz depending on the situation.“ 

Collaborating with the DPs 

Mitch has nothing but praise for The Last of Us’s two DPs, Ksenia Sereda and Catherine Goldschmidt: „My experience with both DPs was wonderful. They were both very respectful to all the technicians working around them, and both worked tirelessly to keep up with the demanding schedule and challenging lighting situations“, he recalls. 

Despite these similarities, Mitch notes that each collaboration had its own rhythm and dynamics. The production almost always shot with three cameras, and Ksenia Sereda often operated the A camera herself, giving Mitch a vital role in managing the look on set: „I really appreciate Ksenia’s willingness to trust me, because right from the first day she was focused on operating and lighting, leaving me to make exposure and color decisions alone.“ He clarifies, though, that creative control remained firmly with the DP: „To be clear, the creative decisions were all hers, I was just filling in the blanks when it comes to technical corrections, exposure compensations, and color matching ideas. Which, in my opinion, is exactly what a DIT is meant for.“ Or, as Mitch puts it more simply: „A DIT is a technical collaborator to allow a cinematographer to focus on other things.“ 

Because of the tight schedule, Mitch and Ksenia developed a fast shorthand for communication. „After a few days together, I began to understand her style so I could grade a scene with little instructions,“ he says. „Soon phrases such as ‘we need more pink’ or ‚Mitch, don’t be afraid of the dark’ became commonplace in our shorthand, which translated to ‚less green‘ and ‚I’m going to light this very dark so don’t bother me with exposure.‘“ 

A DIT is a technical collaborator to allow a cinematographer to focus on other things.

Another defining aspect of working with Ksenia was her choice of lenses. „She used custom-adjusted Cooke S4 primes as our primary lenses. Arri Rental were the geniuses behind helping her redesign this classic Cooke Prime,“ Mitch explains. „Their Head of Optical Design, Matt Kolbe, and machinist Mike Johnson adjusted the iris leaflets so we could open the lenses beyond T2, and it created a more circular bokeh, which looked more natural than the traditional oval. The forgiveness of this less-clinical Cooke glass meant we didn’t use diffusion, and the adjustments gave us an edge on some very softly lit and dark environments that needed every ounce of light the camera could see.“ He also extends a big thank-you to the team at Arri Rental Vancouver: „Arri Rentals did an incredible job providing equipment and keeping up with our demanding schedule and needs,“ Mitch adds, specifically acknowledging GM Sarah Mather for her continued support.

While Ksenia was often out operating the camera, Catherine Goldschmidt enjoyed working closer to Mitch’s station. „Catherine liked working from the DIT cart, which was fun because now I had my favourite type of collaborator right beside me – my boss!“ So what did their collaboration look like? „We would start a scene with a brief chat about color and contrast“, Mitch explains. „Then I would go to work developing some options while Catherine was lighting – her passion for lighting was only outmatched by her passion for Bublys (which is the Canadian version of a flavoured carbonated soda).“ 

Catherine also brought a distinctive technical approach. „A unique detail about Catherine’s workflow is that she used rotating variable ND filters, which was great because it kept the T-stop consistent throughout a scene,“ Mitch explains. „We would just adjust the internal NDs with wireless control, and the external one with an Iris handset, the Arri Hi-5.“ This proved especially useful given the unpredictable weather. „I think it’s a subtle problem, but if you’re constantly making 2-3 stops adjustments in a scene due to weather, then your depth of field will change, and that can be distracting or create bad matches,“ Mitch says. „So this concept eliminates that issue because we would only adjust the ND.“ 

Maintaining continuity 

„Handling 3-5 cameras on any given day meant I had to keep an idea of show continuity as well as scene continuity in mind,“ Mitch explains. The challenge was amplified by the show’s post-apocalyptic setting – an environment ravaged by a deadly fungus where electricity no longer exists. „Because the show is based (mostly) outside in a world without electricity, a lot of focus was on matching changing weather patterns over the course of several days“, Mitch remembers. 

The team primarily shot on the Alexa 35, but occasionally incorporated secondary cameras like the DJI Ronin 4D. This required careful integration to preserve a cohesive look. „We had a very specific look we wanted to maintain, and the ability to include an input node so you can adapt the color space of secondary cameras to match your show LUT is crucial because we were not working in an ACES ecosystem.“

To achieve consistency, Mitch developed a structured and repeatable color pipeline. „I built a library of go-to CDL nodes that I would use as a starting point based on the episode and type of scene. This would be the input before our show LUT, which was a tweaked LogC4 transform by Company 3 senior DI Colorist Stephen Nakumara.“ 

Mitch describes the provided LUT as follows: „It was a straightforward cube, and the adjustments we made were to pull back some of the contrast we found the A 35 produced.“ The goal was to enhance the look established in Season 1, without making it feel like a completely different show. „Because Season 1 was shot using Alexa Mini and LogC3, there was a desire to enhance the original look but not upgrade it completely simply because we had a new piece of technology,“ Mitch explains. „So we pulled back the knee of the curve, giving us more forgiving contrast and a softer starting point.“ 

Mitch used Livegrade Pro for all on-set color grading, routing, and image capture, which he clearly enjoyed: „I love this software because it means I only need one page open to handle 90% of my day-to-day work,“ he says. „Livegrade has been such a breakthrough for the DIT because I remember a time when I needed 3-4 desktops open to handle all my programs. I’d be flipping back and forth between desktops, but now, all my needs are in a single, neatly organized window.“ 

One of the best features of Livegrade is the ability to display references. It is a simple concept, but it cannot be overstated how important it is to bring up references for matching lighting and camera angles.

Beyond Livegrade’s compact interface, Mitch especially values its features for working with reference images: „One of the best features of Livegrade is the ability to display references. It is a simple concept, but it cannot be overstated how important it is to bring up references for matching lighting and camera angles.“ Mitch established a custom workflow and cataloguing system using stills: „I capture in Livegrade, then export stills into specific folders as a redundancy and for dailies prep.“ This system paid off especially well over the long 6-month shoot. “Near the end of production, we would pick up inserts or entire scenes, and having stills with the correct metadata was incredibly helpful,“ he recalls. 

For media management, Mitch’s loader Alex handled the data backend using Silverstack XT. „We would checksum using xxHash 64 and backup to Areca 48TB 8-Bay RAID and OWC Envoy 1M2 4TB SSDs, using HDE encoding.“ Mitch describes HDE encoding as his go-to for ARRI workflows: „The losses encoding saves so much time and space with offloads, it’s a no-brainer if you ever encounter an ARRI camera. One piece of advice: Have an early conversation with your post production team, because sometimes a project is not aware of this option simply because they haven’t used it.“

Although he didn’t handle data management himself on this project, Mitch has been a long-time Silverstack XT user and advocate: „I’ve been using Silverstack XT for over 10 years and I love it. The interface is easy, the PDF report is perfect, and the additional features are useful when you’re suddenly asked to see something from an exposed mag or pull as till from the OCN,“ he says. „Because I always work with an off-set loader, there are times I want to review the camera negative while away from the loading station, and Silverstack XT makes that easy to do.“

Reflections on being a DIT and favorite moments from set 

With so much time spent using Pomfort’s tools, we couldn’t help but ask Mitch to reflect on how his role (and the tools) have evolved over the years: „I’ve been using Pomfort products for over a decade, with one of the first significant projects being Deadpool 1 in 2016, and I can’t think of a single project since then that I haven’t used Silverstack and Livegrade“, Mitch recalls. But his journey in this role goes back even further. 

„My early experience with this position dates back to the ARRI D20 (and D21), Sony F35, and everyone’s favourite RED ONE“, he says. Since then, much has changed—but the core of the job has remained the same. „A lot has changed about this position, but the primary principle, responsibilities, and knowledge base have not,“ he explains. „The foundation of a DIT’s job is understanding how a camera system works and the relationship each function has with the image. From there, it’s a DIT’s role to understand how to assimilate each unique system’s nuances into a signal path that cinematographers can rely on.“

While DITs now have to stay on top of ever-evolving technology, emerging standards, and shifting workflows, Mitch sees an interesting kind of full circle taking place: „Some things resurface. For example, the practice of monitoring a signal and applying a LUT has largely remained a constant in the job, although when I started, we were using Cine-Tal monitors and applying a LUT inside the monitor rather than using an external box. Funny enough, that concept has come full circle now, and now we’re seeing a push to have 3D LUTs stored inside monitors again“, he reflects. „I guess DITing is like fashion, because both have trends that make a comeback after several years. Speaking of, it’s important to be fashionable as a DIT“, Mitch emphasizes. „We have a bad reputation for being nerds in a dark tent, so I always like to remind my fellow DITs that the floor show starts with you!‘“ 

Pedro [Pascal] eventually came up ‚on stage‘ with me and we played some of the best booty-shaking disco music ever.

Speaking of putting on a show – Mitch certainly knows how to do that, as we learned when asking about his favourite memory from The Last of Us. „My favourite memory has actually nothing to do with DITing“, Mitch says before going on to explain: „Outside of film, my passion is DJing; I love playing music as much as I love my job. So when the crew (and cast) learned about this, they were determined to have me play.“ 

Said and done! For Pedro Pascal’s last day on set, Mitch’s loader Alex secretly organized the electrics to rig some Arri Sky Panels, SFX to build smoke machines, and props to set up a bunch of makeshift eye-candy on the back of their slush truck. „I had no idea they were doing this“, Mitch remembers. „All I knew was that they wanted me to DJ at lunch. Little did I realize that when they called lunch, Pedro had shown up expecting a party“. But Mitch delivered: „So there I was on the tailgate of our camera slush trunk with my laptop, I was just using Livegrade on, and I started a DJ session in the parking lot of the studio. Needless to say, the party went off! Pedro eventually came up ‚on stage‘ with me and we played some of the best booty-shaking disco music ever. It was the perfect sunny afternoon activity to break up the hard set work and a reminder that making movies is fun!“ 

Big thanks to Mitch for sharing all these insights and behind-the-scenes moments with us!