Two DITs, one pipeline: Inside the seamless set-to-post workflow for  “Mother Mary”

With five major films hitting theaters this year, 2026 may well be remembered as the year of Anne Hathaway. The first has just arrived, and we were lucky enough to get a peek behind the scenes. In Mother Mary, Hathaway plays a global pop icon trying to reconnect with her former costume designer and estranged friend while battling her inner demons. 

As the film explores a troubled creative relationship on screen, the reality behind the scenes looked almost like the opposite. DITs Severin Schultze and Jonas Karg worked in a textbook example of collaboration, building a tightly integrated workflow that split live grading and dailies creation across two dedicated stations, while our cloud system ShotHub kept both sides seamlessly connected. The result was an efficient set-to-lab pipeline that kept OCF, looks, metadata, and transcodes flowing smoothly from production through post. In this interview, Severin walks us through the technical considerations behind the workflow, their setups, and why staying in the Pomfort ecosystem made all the difference. 

Crew and workflow design

Severin joined the production through existing contacts, but his role evolved during the early conversations. As he explains, expectations around the role of a DIT can vary significantly depending on the market and production background. With Mother Mary being a visiting production shot primarily in Germany and supported by a mixed international crew, those differences in expectations became part of the early alignment process: 

„I had been introduced to DP Andrew Droz Palermo as a DIT, which caused some confusion during our first conversation — my credits didn’t exactly match that of a traditional live-grading DIT“, Severin remembers. „However, he mentioned that they were also planning to have a dailies colorist/operator in a near-set setup, which suited my background perfectly. Ultimately, the production brought on an additional DIT for live grading: my colleague Jonas Karg“, Severin recalls.  

That distinction quickly became the foundation of the workflow, with responsibilities clearly divided. 

„We essentially worked with two workstations and split tasks: Jonas handled live grading on his cart using Livegrade on set, while I used my setup to tackle the dailies tasks near set in my van“, Severin describes. 

Editorial requirements added another layer of specificity to the workflow design. Severin typically runs a split setup across Silverstack Lab and DaVinci Resolve, but this production called for a different approach. 

„Normally, I handle all data and metadata management in Silverstack and the dailies color in DaVinci Resolve. However, on this project, editorial requested fully synchronized ProRes files, and they were working in Adobe Premiere instead of Avid Media Composer. So I adapted my workflow and did everything within Silverstack Lab, which allowed me to deliver synchronized sound along with all necessary metadata (via sidecar files) directly to editorial“, he explains. 

The biggest advantage was the fully integrated software ecosystem. The workflow with Livegrade, Silverstack, and ShotHub is exceptionally well thought out and makes the dailies process streamlined and efficient.

With Jonas using Livegrade on set and Severin handling dailies in Silverstack Lab, adding ShotHub was the natural next step. ShotHub mirrors Livegrade and Silverstack libraries to the cloud in real time, keeping looks, clip metadata, and project information instantly accessible to authorized team members. Every look created in Livegrade was automatically uploaded to ShotHub, allowing Severin to pull the latest grades directly into Silverstack Lab for fast look matching and dailies creation.

„The biggest advantage was the fully integrated software ecosystem. The workflow with Livegrade, Silverstack, and ShotHub is exceptionally well thought out and makes the dailies process streamlined and efficient. I never had to switch tools or export and reimport footage or metadata. Since ShotHub is implemented in both Livegrade and Silverstack Lab, the system is blazing fast, extremely reliable, and easy to manage,“ Severin explains.

That kind of operational simplicity on shoot days doesn’t happen by accident, though. It was earned during prep, as Severin tells us:

„During preproduction, my primary responsibility was designing and implementing the workflow setup. It was essential to align all technical requirements and creative preferences from both production companies as well as the entire post-production team. This involved an extended testing and optimization phase before shooting so that, once principal photography began, I could focus entirely on dailies processing.”

Severin’s setup with Silverstack

So what did his near-set dailies station actually look like then? Severin’s van setup was built around a workhorse that’s been with him for a couple of years. 

„Since 2022, I’ve been working with a fully maxed-out Mac Studio M1 Ultra paired with an Apple Studio Display. This combination offers an ideal balance of performance, I/O, size, power consumption, and thermal management“, he explains. 

His storage and monitoring setup was equally robust, and his power system made him fully self-sufficient.

„For backups, I used an Areca ARC-8050T3U-8 with eight 22TB drives; an OWC 4M2 with four 4TB WD Black SN850x NVMes as a scratch drive; and eight additional 4TB WD Black SN850x NVMes in Accusys TB3 enclosures as shuttle drives. The dailies pipeline was built in HD/SDR, so I worked on my trusted FSI DM240 monitor and used a Tangent Wave2 panel. My entire van setup runs completely off-grid with two EcoFlow Delta 2 Max units. For summer shoots, I also used an EcoFlow Wave air conditioner, which kept the internal temperature perfectly stable. For uploads, I relied on a Zyxel 5G router with an external antenna, providing excellent upload performance almost anywhere,“ Severin recounts. 

With everything set up close to the action, the handoff between set and van ran continuously throughout the day. From there, Severin followed a clear sequence of steps, as he explains:

„As soon as the cameras reloaded, I ingested the footage in Silverstack Lab. I imported the script supervisor’s metadata via Lockit Network, performed A/V sync, and matched looks by pulling the grades Jonas created with Andrew on set via ShotHub.“

QC and LTO archiving were handled by an external post facility that received shuttle drives twice per day, so Severin didn’t need to deal with those steps at all. With Silverstack managing backups in the background, he was able to focus fully on the dailies creation process. 

„Before the backups were even finished, I had already completed metadata management, A/V sync, and look matching, allowing me to move straight into fine-tuning colors. Jonas pre-matched the shots so that, once imported and synced on my side in Silverstack Lab, I rarely needed to make major adjustments. For look approval, I exported stills to an iPad Pro and showed them to Andrew on set. Andrew occasionally gave me notes to refine the live-grading changes he had implemented with Jonas. After approval, I launched the transcodes, uploaded the dailies to Moxion, and sent the editorial rushes via MediaShuttle“, Severin explains. 

Integrating ShotHub was a major advantage. I was able to access Jonas’ Livegrade corrections immediately after each camera reload and sync them to the corresponding shots […].

The ShotHub integration was more than just a convenience and had a clear impact on turnaround time, as Severin notes:

„Integrating ShotHub was a major advantage. I was able to access Jonas’ Livegrade corrections immediately after each camera reload and sync them to the corresponding shots, which made the workflow extremely efficient. By the end of each shooting day, I could hand David Lowery (Director) and Andrew Droz Palermo (DP) an SSD with finished ProRes rushes covering around 90% of the day’s footage to take back to their hotel.“ 

Jonas’ setup with Livegrade 

While Severin handled data management and dailies creation, Jonas focused on image continuity and creative intent right next to the camera. The production was primarily shot on two ARRI Alexa 35, with additional cameras added for specific sequences, as Severin recalls:  

„Some days, a 2nd Unit shot with a third Alexa 35, and during the stage performance sequences, we also used a third Alexa 35. For specific slow-motion shots, we brought in a Phantom Flex 4K. Unlike many series productions that rely on drones, GoPros, or smartphones, this setup was relatively straightforward.“

To establish a consistent starting point, the DP worked with Color Collective NY to develop a creative LUT, which became the base look in Livegrade on set. From there, Jonas took over live adjustments using Livegrade in CDL/LUT mode. As Severin relayed to us, Jonas describes his setup like this: 

“My workflow on set was built around my cart, where my MacBook Pro with Livegrade and the ARRI control units for exposure lived. First, the show LUT was applied, and then I did the corrections via the CDL node in Livegrade. Whenever possible, we tried to solve color and exposure continuity through lighting, aperture, and optical filters though. The exposure tools and still library in Livegrade were extremely helpful. The signal was sent as an ARRI LogC4 stream via Teradeks and color-transformed with the FSI BoxIO.“ 

For Jonas, the tight integration across the full pipeline was felt just as directly as it was on Severin’s side. 

„ShotHubs integration with both Livegrade and Silverstack Lab made the workflow seamless – definitely a game changer for an efficient set-to-lab pipeline”, he concludes. 

Final reflections 

Asked what stood out most from the production, Severin didn’t hesitate. The large-scale music performance sequences were the creative and technical high point as they were ambitious in design and complex in execution.

„The performance sequences were definitely the most fascinating — not only creatively, with the stage design, lighting design, and coordinated dance choreography, but also from a technical standpoint. Syncing the huge LED wall to the camera shutters and integrating automated lighting with camera and crane movements were complex challenges. On top of that, the VFX team had to capture all the plates needed to crowd up the entire stadium later on.“ 

And none of it would have come together without the tight-knit team, as Severin points out: 

„Overall, it was an impressive collaboration between many departments. It was technically and logistically demanding, but incredibly rewarding to see everything come together so smoothly thanks to so many talented and dedicated people.“ 

Big thanks to Severin Schultze for taking the time to walk us through the workflow on this production!