My DIT Cart Story: Steve Harnell 

For Steve Harnell, the title of this series should definitely be plural. With a wide range of DIT cart setups and configurations, primarily for commercials and major live events such as Coachella festival, Steve definitely has more than one story to tell. In this interview, he shares insights into his career journey, his approach to different projects, and the gear that helps him get the job done. Let’s dive in!

Career journey: From film loader to DIT 

Steve’s career in visual media began as a high school lab technician developing 35mm film. He studied at the Art Institute of Atlanta, initially aspiring to be a CNN camera operator but shifting to post-production, where he worked extensively with tape-based analog workflows. This experience led to a job with Chicago-based ad agency, Channel M: „They hired me to establish their Los Angeles editing and duplication facilities from the ground up. In those pre-high-speed internet days, we distributed content to clients via VHS tapes and later DVDs.“ 

In 2007, Steve then transitioned to on-set work, landing a Toyota commercial series that introduced him to film loading. This became his primary role until digital cameras reshaped the industry, leading him to pivot to a career as a DIT: „I would get an average of, let’s say six, calls per month to load film. Digital cinema cameras like the ALEXA Classic started to become popular, and I went from an average of six calls per month to three calls to never getting called to load film again.“

I went from an average of six calls per month to three calls to never getting called to load film again.

This shift affected many in the industry, as Steve remembers: „I would have conversations with the directors of photography I was working with, and they would say ‚The agency/client really wants me to shoot digital, but I have never done it‘.“ Thanks to his background in post, Steve could bridge the gap and soon found himself working as a DIT:

 „I had worked extensively with SMPTE Color Bars, waveforms, and vector scopes during tape-to-tape duplication. These tools, once confined to the edit suites, suddenly became essential on-set equipment.“ Since those early days, the DIT role has continued to evolve: „It’s crazy to see how much of the DIT’s responsibilities have changed since I started, and how technology played a role in that.“ With yet another technological shift happening now, Steve embraces change as a constant in the industry: „I’ve seen technology come and go. While many of my colleagues are anxious about artificial intelligence, I believe it’s important to adapt to these evolving technologies.“ 

These tools, once confined to the edit suites, suddenly became essential on-set equipment.

So, what is Steve up to these days, and what technology does he currently rely on? Let’s take a closer look at his projects and gear! 

Projects: Commercials and live events 

Even in a massive production hub like Los Angeles, the industry is surprisingly interconnected, as Steve notes: „It’s funny, we all kind of know each other at this point. While I collaborate regularly with familiar faces, I’m continually meeting emerging technicians who bring fresh perspectives to the field.“ 

While Steve primarily focuses on commercials, he occasionally covers TV shows, splinter/second unit work on features, and, for the past three years, multi-camera live events. 

For example, he was just involved in a major campaign tied to the release of Wicked: „I recently had the opportunity to shoot the ‚tie-ins‘ to Wicked with Alice Brooks ASC and the original cast for Xfinity, Target, and Starbucks.“ They utilized the exact same camera package (ALEXA 65) and lenses that were used on the movie and, therefore, needed to match them. „Which we did successfully!“, Steve notes. 

Livegrade is a cornerstone of Steve’s workflows, which he often uses for in-camera grading when working on commercials: „For commercial work, I primarily work with ARRI CAP (and its Venice 2 equivalent for Sony cameras). I particularly appreciate how these systems embed looks and CDLs directly into the ARRI camera negative’s metadata, ensuring creative decisions travel seamlessly with the footage.” 

For data management and reporting, Silverstack XT is his go-to: „Silverstack XT has become the industry standard in Los Angeles. Editorial houses typically request three specific reporting formats unique to Silverstack: the daily report, clip report, and occasionally, the thumbnail report.“

Beyond commercials, Steve has spent the past three years working with Wide+Close, a team known for redefining the visual aesthetics of live event coverage: „Traditionally these events relied on sports-style camera systems that produced a clean broadcast news look. However, their approach brings a cinematic quality by utilizing large format cameras with fast prime lenses, shooting wide open for shallow depth of field, and employing sophisticated color grading. The result is essentially a ‘live’ music video that delivers a much more polished, film-like aesthetic“, Steve explains. As a shader alongside Lonny Danler, Jordan Harriman, and Matt Conrad, he focuses on implementing Livegrade Studio for real-time multicam color workflows at Coachella’s main stage or outdoor stage, which streams live to YouTube throughout the festival: „Livegrade Studio proves invaluable for live multicam shows and color grading within an LED volume via CDL adjustments.“, Steve notes. Their dedicated data management team uses Silverstack XT or Lab to handle all the footage. Overall, a successful approach that Steve and his team will apply at another major festival this year: „We’re set to continue this same workflow at Stagecoach this year, which happens right after Coachella wraps.“ 

So, what does Steve’s gear and setup look like, and how does he adapt them to meet the different requirements of his diverse productions?

Steve’s gear and setups 

Workstations

Steve has an extensive collection of gear, allowing him to tailor his setups to different production types. His van setup has been a game-changer, he says: „My fully self-contained Mercedes Sprinter van setup has transformed how I operate on location. It not only streamlines working in challenging environments but also simplifies logistics for production by eliminating the need for cart pickup and delivery. If necessary, I can deploy 1000’ of fiber supporting four bi-directional camera feeds and an ethernet connection, though I prefer staying close to the action and the DP.“ 

My primary setup is best described as ‚lean and mean‘ – it’s a versatile Swiss Army knife built on an Innovative Echo 36.

For his primary setup, Steve keeps it compact yet powerful: „My primary setup is best described as ‚lean and mean‘ – it’s a versatile Swiss Army knife built on an Innovative Echo 36“ that can handle any camera package while maintaining a compact footprint. This commercial cart easily manages up to four cameras, though I maintain additional configurations for more cameras and for lightweight 12V run-and-gun situations.“ 

For larger, multicam productions he scales up: „For multicam live shows, I operate from a mobile production truck integrated with portable equipment stations.“ Being adaptable is key, he notes: „When handling second unit work involving more than six cameras, we scale up to a 48“ cart to accommodate the additional infrastructure, including extra LUT boxes, expanded routing capabilities, and enhanced monitoring solutions.“ 

Overall, Steve has a clear way of organizing his carts: „My carts are organized into two distinct systems. The first compromises my engineering equipment – including switches, LUT boxes, routers, quad splits etc., all powered by a 12V DC Neon Life system.“ The second system revolves around his main computer hub: „It’s centered on the Mac Studio M2 Ultra, along with client drives and 120V AC components managed through an APC UPS unit.“ The cart’s top deck houses further equipment such as dual OLED displays, control panels, keyboard/mouse, and Stream Deck controllers. Steve’s entire system is backed by EcoFlow Delta Pro battery packs, ensuring reliable power redundancy for critical operations. Ensuring stable network connections is another key concern for Steve: „Recognizing the critical importance of constant internet connectivity, I’ve implemented redundant solutions with both a Pepwave cellular modem/ router and a Starlink Mini.“

Monitoring and signal routing 

Steve’s monitoring setup is flexible and expandable, as he explains: „My standard monitoring setup features two mounted panels, with the flexibility to stack an additional pair above for quad-display configuration. When projects demand even more monitoring capacity, I can transition to a cart specifically designed for expanded display arrays.“ 

Steve’s go-to monitors are SONY PVM-A250s for the following reasons: „They have exceptional image quality, robust durability, and native 1080p resolution – which aligns perfectly with the standard monitoring feed with no scaling.“ To be prepared for various production requirements, Steve also has a few SmallHD 4K OLED 22s and Flanders DM-250 monitors in his stash. For signal routing, he uses a combination of Blackmagic, AJA Kumo routers, and Freakshow HD distribution amplifiers. His LUT box setup includes BoxIOs, Teradek COLRs, IS-Minis, and the AJA ColorBox.

Camera control

When asked about current favorites, Steve has a clear answer: „The cmotion cPRO PLUS handsets and cPRO motor with integrated RF module have become one of my favorite pieces of equipment.“ The system saves Steve a lot of time, as he outlines: „They eliminate the need to manually create and mark up iris rings, as lens file tables are stored digitally. This digital storage also allows me to save and reuse multiple lens sets across different jobs, significantly reducing prep time.“ Furthermore, these tools make it easy to retrieve and use the data in Silverstack, which is especially helpful when working with vintage lenses: „Perhaps most impressively, the system integrates seamlessly with Silverstack, allowing digital lens tables to be directly incorporated into camera metadata. This means you can work with non-LDS lenses, such as the older Panavision series, without requiring additional hardware – a significant advantage for productions using vintage glass. Additionally, we can now connect cmotion devices over ethernet or fiber networks, allowing us to maintain reliable control even when operating at significant distances from the action.“ Speaking of remote camera control: „I want to highlight the BitBox system right here, right now. I noticed you recently covered these 9000MHz radios in your piece with Justin Paul Warren, so I’ll keep this brief rather than retread familiar ground. But they are amazing and part of all my jobs.“  

With Steve’s wealth of experience, we couldn’t wrap up the interview without asking about his most unforgettable moment. While a mayonnaise commercial was a close runner-up, one story stood out above the rest: „I’ve worked with virtually every wild animal imaginable – lions, jaguars, bears, kangaroos, llamas, reptiles, and more. Ironically, the only genuine safety incident involved a cow that clearly wanted no part of the production.“ The cow’s dramatic escape resulted in a demolished camera and set – but fortunately, no serious injuries. 

A big thanks to Steve for sharing his insights! Here’s to many more amazing projects (and hopefully, no more runaway cows).