use strict;
use warnings;
use DBI;

my $dbh = DBI->connect("DBI:mysql:database=Foo", "user", "password", {mysql_enable_utf8 => 1, RaiseError => 1, AutoCommit => 0}) or die "Cannot connect to database: $DBI::errstr";

my $statement = "insert into testtable(bitfield) values(?);";
my $insertnumber = pack("b",0);

my $sth = $dbh->prepare($statement);
$sth->execute($insertnumber);
$dbh->commit;
$dbh->disconnect;