At the helm.

DP Stephen Murphy wrote in with details of Mrs. Peppercorn’s Magical Reading Room, a production he lit for director/producer Mike Le Han, with a cast including Jane Cox, Margaret Jackman, Stephen Boyes, and Emily Coggin. A young girl discovers her new home is a little more then she bargained for and Mrs. Peppercorn shows her how magical her world can really be. Shot on Red One cameras using Zeiss Super speeds with Smoque, Black Frost and Whiskey filters. Camera, grip and lighting package was from Provision in Manchester. “Apart from overcoming sub-zero temperatures and exploding helium balloon lights everything was fine,” said Murphy. “We wrapped Mrs Peppercorn in May and are about to begin the DI now.” Murphy has kept a blog of his work on Mrs Peppercorn at http://stephenmurphydop.blogspot.com He has also shot Back 2 Hell, a 3D feature starring Michael Madsen, followed by several 2D commercials including a shoot at the Le Mans races and the first 3D commercial in Ireland for the Aviva Stadium.

Berlin Associates’… Derek Suter BSC has just shot Spoilt Broth, for director Toby Roberts.

McKinney Macartney’s… Balazs Bolygo has just finished working with director Damon Thomas on Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency in Bristol and is in prep on the latest Dr. Who for director Julian Simpson. Congratulations to Shane Daly, who married Vicky on Malibu Beach in September. Seamus Deasy continues on Neverland for Nick Willing through Parallel Films in Dublin. Gavin Finney BSC is working with directors Julia Davies and Julian Barratt on two of the Little Crackers series, produced by Silver River Productions. Richard Greatrex is grading Moby Dick for Mike Barker. John Pardue is now shooting Resistance for director Amit Gupta and producer Richard Holmes. Mark Partridge continues with everyday life on the BBC series Lark Rise To Candleford for producer Annie Tricklebank. Chris Seager BSC has completed Retreat for director Carl Tibbetts, before renewing his working relationship with director Coky Giedroyc and producer Ruth Kenley Letts on The Hour for Kudos. Mike Spragg has joined the ‘Monroe’ production, working with directors Paul McGuigan and David Moore for Mammoth Screen. David Tattersall BSC is filming the sequel to Journey To The Centre of the Earth for director Brad Peyton. Darran Tiernan is busy in Ireland shooting 2nd unit on Camelot for RTE and Starz UK Network. Fabian Wagner filmed final scenes for Hustle before decamping straight onto Scott And Bailey, a new detective series for Red Productions, Manchester. Felix Wiedemann has just completed Anuvahood for directors Adam Deacon and Daniel Toland through Revolver Ents and Gateway Films. Ben Butler, Mick Coulter BSC, Denis Crossan BSC, John de Borman BSC, Katie Swain, John Lynch, Clive Tickner BSC and Michael Wood have all been lensing commercials.

Over at Independent… Ulf Brantas is on Treasure Island for Sky with Parallel Films until February 2011. The director is Steve Barron, with Laurie Borg producing, shooting in Spain and Dublin, and Eddie Izzard in the lead. Kieran McGuigan has shot two episodes of Monroe with Paul McGuigan, a six-parter Mammoth is making for ITV. Ben Smithard has completed Simon Curtis’s feature My Week With Marilyn. Ben Davis BSC is in India shooting John Madden’s new comedy, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, starring Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson and Bill Nighy. Benoit Delhomme AFC recently finished shooting Lone Scherfig’s new romantic comedy, One Day. Anthony Dod Mantle DFF BSC is lensing the new 3D live-action feature version of Judge Dredd at the recently opened Cape Town Film Studios, after completing the DI of both Eagle of the Ninth and 127 Hours this summer. Eduard Grau is lighting Marcel Fores’ Animals, in Spain, and you can read about his work on the extraordinary feature Buried in this edition. Jess Hall BSC has shot Ruben Fleischer’s, 30 Minutes Or Less, starring Jesse Eisenberg and Danny McBride. Martin Kenzie lighting and directing 2nd unit for Oliver Parker on Working Title’s Johnny English 2. Sam McCurdy BSC is lighting Nick Moore’s 3D live-action feature version of Horrid Henry, based on the children’s literary, TV and stage phenomenon. Seamus McGarvey BSC is prepping Marvel’s The Avengers, starring Robert Downey Jnr and Scarlett Johansson in New York. Dick Pope BSC is in Texas shooting Richard Linklater’s dark comedy, Bernie, starring Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine and Matthew McConaughey. Ashley Rowe BSC is on Tim Lewiston’s period caper movie The Hot Potato in Belgium and the UK. Based on real events, it stars Ray Winstone and Jack Huston as two chancers who ‘find’ a lump of Uranium and crisscross Europe to find a buyer. Dan Landin, John Mathieson BSC, Mark Patten, Fraser Taggart and Ed Wild have all been lensing commercials.

Of PrinceStone’s DP roster… Stephan Pehrsson has completed Vera – Crow Trap, a two-hour drama for the ITV network, shot on Red, for director Farren Blackburn, with a cast that included Brenda Blethyn and Daniella Nardini. He’s now in Cardiff shooting the next in the Doctor Who series. Gary Clarke has been in South Africa shooting two drama docs for Raw TV, with directors Carl Hindmarsh and Srik Narayaynan. Using HD Varicam with 35mm pro lenses they have retold the horrors of the Talladega prison riots and the taking of hostages in Salt Lake City. Of the agency’s camera operator and Steadicam clients…Peter Robertson is working on Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, with director Rob Marshall and DP Dariusz Wolski, shooting at Pinewood and locations with Red Mysterium X in 3D using PACE rigs. Simon Baker has been on Steven Spielberg’s War Horse for DP Janusz Kaminski, on 35mm. Gerry Vasbenter is on A Game of Thrones TV series for HBO shooting in Belfast for DP’s Marco Pontecorvo and Alik Sakharov. Sean Savage is also adding his skills to this production, as well as additional camera on the feature Johnny English 2. Dee Elliott has been a further camera operator on A Game of Thrones, and is currently shooting the EPK for the series in Malta. Mark Milsome has been doing days on Captain America – Frostbite. He was also the camera operator for the UK locations on The Killer Elite, the Australian feature for director Gary McKendry with DP Simon Duggan. They shot in Wales on 35mm, with Robert De Niro, Clive Owen and Jason Stratham amongst the cast.

The news from United Agents is… Barry Ackroyd BSC has graded Coriolanus, Robert Alazraki AFC is shooting a film in France La vérité si je mens 3, with director Thomas Gilou, produced by Vertigo, and Brendan Galvin has finished Tarsem Singh’s film Immortals in Montreal. Alwin Kuchler BSC has just done some pick-ups in New York on Joe Wright’s movie Hanna, and Paul Sarossy BSC CSC is in Hungary shooting The Borgias. Eduardo Serra ASC AFC is shooting a film in Luxembourg, Tony Slater-Ling is grading Mad Dogs, the Left Bank production directed by Adrian Shergold, and Haris Zambarloukos BSC is in LA doing extensive pick-ups for Thor. Alan Almond BSC is due to shoot pick-ups shortly for Diarmuid Lawrence’s South Riding for the BBC. Danny Cohen BSC continues to shoot Johnny English 2, directed by Oliver Parker, in the UK, Hong Kong and France. John Conroy has completed Karl Golden’s Weekender and is prepping Stuart Orme’s Jack Taylor in Dublin. David Higgs BSC has wrapped on Nigel Cole’s Rafta Rafta, whilst Dale McCready has completed the final block of Merlin III. Carlos Catalan recently finished shooting Running With The Bulls for Indian director Zoya Akhtar, and is attached to two feature films going into the New Year. Jonathan Harvey has wrapped ‘70s-set horror feature Speak No Evil for director Pat Holden. David Raedeker is shooting the UKFC-funded pilot Gone Too Far, to be directed by “Star of Tomorrow 2009”, Destiny Ekaragha. Niels Reedtz Johansen is camera A operator and 2nd unit DP for Anthony Dodd Mantle on Judge Dredd. Zac Nicholson operating on Johnny English 2. Neus Olle is in Bristol shooting supernatural horror The Dark Half for director Alastair Siddons and producer Margaret Matheson. Charlotte Bruus Christensen has just wrapped on Hunky Dory for director Marc Evans in Wales. Tim Maurice-Jones is working on feature film Woman In Black with director James Watkins shooting in the UK. Tat Radcliffe is coming to the end of the shooting period on the new BBC Television project The Shadow Line with Hugo Blick C/O Company Pictures. Since wrapping on feature film The Veteran Philipp Blaubach has been busy with commercials as have Alex Barber, Stephen Blackman, Daniel Bronks, Simon Chaudoir, Alwin Kuchler, Benjamin Kracun, Alex Melman and Marcel Zyskind.

Wizzo Features’… Erik Wilson is currently shooting Friday Night Dinner for director Steve Bendelack and producer Lyndsay Robinson at Big Talk Productions. Subsequently, Submarine, the feature he lit last year for executive producer Ben Stiller and Channel 4 Films has just opened at Toronto Film Festival to excellent reviews. Ed Rutherford lit the latest Joanna Hogg film Archipelago, which opened at the London Film Festival. Karl Oskarsson’s stunningly lit Czech film 3 Seasons In Hell also took part in the festival within the World Cinema category. The documentary Fire in Babylon, lit by Stuart Bentley, was also included as part of the New British Cinema section. Jake Polonsky has returned from Morocco where he has been shooting 2nd Unit on Salmon Fishing In The Yemen for Kudos Films. Gary Shaw has finished shooting Ill Manors for director Plan B and producer Atif Ghani. Damian Bromley is shooting the legal drama Silk for director Catherine Moreshead and producer Charlotte Bloxham. David Rom shot a short film for Warp called Gun For George, directed by Matthew Holness, and Duncan Telford recently finished shooting the Bollywood feature Podaa Podi with producer Padam Kumar through Kollywood Films.

News from Sara Putt Associates is… Mike Brewster is back at Leavesden shooting 2nd unit on the very last few weeks of Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part 2. Nick Dance continues lighting on Skins V in Bristol for Company Pictures. Doug Hartington is in the US continuing on Bibles & Buried Secrets, presented by Dr Francesca Stavrakopoulou it’s 3 x 1 hours for BBC Religious unit. Paul Lang worked on the Commonwealth Games Closing Ceremony, and is back in Abu Dhabi for the final leg of the F1 feature doc for Diamond Docs. Dave Marsh is lighting Lewis V for ITV Granada, with Philip Sindall operating. Dirk Nel is lighting a new drama series for Kindle Entertainment called Young Leonardo, which chronicles the madcap adventures of a teenage Leonardo da Vinci shooting in South Africa (doubling for Florence!). Peter Robertson is continuing on several Hallmark movies of the week for Parallel Films in Ireland. Gareth Hughes operated on a second block of Waterloo Road for Shed Productions and BBC. Vince McGahon is operating on the second Sherlock Holmes for Warner Bros, with Alan Stewart doing the dailies. Julian Morson is operating on The Woman In Black, and Joe Russell is operating Doctor Who. Graham Smith is on a 3D project for Cinema NX with a working title of TT3D. Des Whelan is A camera operator on Captain America: The First Avenger, and was joined by Phil Sindall who has been doing dailies in Manchester and Liverpool. Peter Wignall is shooting as 2nd Unit Operator on X Men: First Class, and Will Pugh is in New York and LA shooting Taking On Tyson for Touch TV, in which former world heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson enters the fascinating and competitive world of pigeon racing.

News from Digital Garage is that… Pete Hayns is on History of Bomb Hunters for Empire Media and History Channel. Andrew Kemp shot the series Bird Flight for John Downer Productions about a group of scientists travelling from Bavaria to Tuscany with a flock of young bald ibis trying to train them to learn the migration route. Nigel Kinnings has been in Ukraine shooting an adventure travelogue for Globetrekkers. Andrew Mott is back from Fiji shooting for Transworld Sport. Chris Openshaw has been shooting Coast in Sweden, been to Nepal for the new series of Wonders Of The Universe, both for the BBC. Bruno Sorrentino is editing a programme he has been shooting in Spain and France on illegal fishing in the Mediterranean, and Si Wagen is shooting a Top Gear Special for BBC in Iraq, Jordan, Syria and Israel.

My Management’s… Mel Griffith has been shooting The Fence, a drama directed by Jim Canty, dealing with the themes of loss and hope against the backdrop of war, shooting is in Connecticut on Canon 5D Mk II. Roger Bonnici has started grading on Bishaash the series he has been shooting most of this year with BBC World Service Trust. The film he shot with director Paul Hills, Do Elephants Pray? has won yet another award, this time the main award at the Marbella Film Festival. Robbie Ryan BSC has completed Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights with Oscar-winning director Andrea Arnold. It stars actress Kaya Scodelario on location in Yorkshire, through Ecosse Films. Will Humphris is back out in India working with director Pushpendra Misra, this time on a film called Hajiyani. The film is based on writter Javed Siddiqui childhood memoirs, and reflects on the impressionable relationship between his grandmother and their servant. Jo Willems SBC has been shooting pick-ups in Philadelphia on The Dark Fields directed by Neil Burger. Richard Stewart shot a feature documentary about the internationally known British Photojournalist Don McCullin CBE. Ben Moulden is confirmed on the sci-fi feature Sector Zero with director Susie Halewood. John Perez won the MTV Music Award for Best Cinematography for Jay Z & Alicia Keys’ Empire State of Mind, directed by Hype Williams. Steve Chivers recently shot Cheryl Cole’s latest video Promise with the legendary director Sophie Muller. Honeymooner, the film Gerry Floyd shot with director Col Spectre had its Premier at the Edinburgh Film Festival. Nicolaj Bruel, Andy Horner, Ekkehart Pollack, Ray Coates, Vincent Warin, Simon Archer BSC, Manel Ruiz, Anders Flatland, Tim Spence and Dennis Madden have all been shooting commercials.