Based on the best-selling mystery novel of the same name, the feature Where the Crawdads Sing tells the story of Kya (Daisy Edgar-Jones), a young woman who grew up isolated in the North Carolina marshes and is implicated in a murder. Directed by Olivia Newman, the movie was shot by cinematographer Polly Morgan, ASC, BSC, whose long history of working with Panavision goes back to her days as a production assistant in London. Panavision recently spoke with Morgan about her collaboration with Newman and their choice of optics for the feature.
Panavision: What attracted you to Where the Crawdads Sing?
Polly Morgan, ASC, BSC: I read the book during the pandemic in the summer of 2020. I was pregnant, and when I read about this young girl growing up alone in nature, it really resonated with me and my experience as a child. I grew up in remote English countryside, in a valley next to a river. The country road that led to our farmhouse was a mile long, completely off the beaten track. I would spend lots of my time down by the riverbanks and walking through the woods alone. I deeply connected with Kya's story, her love of nature and her resilience to succeed no matter what life threw at her.
How did you become involved in shooting the movie?
Morgan: After I had my son in October [2020], my agent told me they were going to make the book into a movie. She tried for a long time to get me an interview with the director, but I wasnt on the list of DPs that the studio were looking at. With no other option, I wrote Livi a letter, expressing how much I loved the book, what it meant to me and how much I would love to work together to bring the story to life.
After she got my letter, we arranged a Zoom call and then talked for hours. I had made a pitch deck showing inspirations and ideas for the visuals, and we were on exactly the same page. In fact, she showed me the book she created when meeting for the job, and they were very similar.
After my meeting with Livi, I had to then go through a series of meetings with producers and studio execs. I think there was some trepidation because they didnt see much nature work in the material that I had shot before; in this business, unless you've already proven that you can do something, people are nervous that you cant do it. Luckily, they responded to the deck I had put together, and when I discussed our plans with camera movement, they felt more at ease.
When I got to the call to say I had been offered the job, I was overwhelmed. I was so excited to get to work with Livi and thrilled that I was going to be able to create the imagery I had imagined when reading the book.
Can you describe the pitch deck you made?
Morgan: I organized the book based on themes of color and how different colors and contrast would play within Kya's life. I highlighted the difference in contrast and color in the present-day courtroom and jail with the time periods of the 1950s, '60s and '70s, from Kya's childhood, and through her life as a young woman. My references were based on bringing the natural world into the viewers experience in a subjective way to connect them emotionally to the story. I used references from [the movies of] Terrence Malick, Jane Campion and David Lowery, images that focused on the play of light and quiet details. The concept was to make a commercial movie that was still artful and had a balance of scope and intimacy.
How would you describe the look that you and Olivia Newman wanted for the movie?
Morgan: I suppose its cinematic naturalism. The look is very soft and pretty. We embraced a pastel color palette and created a neutral LUT that was very true to the colors created by the production and costume designers. There is so much green in the frame, so we stayed away from any warmth that would add yellow and make the greens feel digital and artificial.
My approach to lighting was to always make sure that we had details in the shadows, with no deep, rich blacks. The landscape at night can very quickly fall into nothing, so I hid fixtures deep in the background to ensure there was always detail in the image and that the contrast would remain soft all the way through post.
Livi and I had a very clear idea of how we wanted to move the camera and frame the image. We wanted to do things to make it more unique to us, like certain angles that spoke emotionally to Kyas internal state. We played with focus and various modes of camera support. The words in the book are so lyrical, and we wanted the camera movement to reflect that. We employed Steadicam and various arms to move the camera as well as keeping a remote head on the dolly and always moving with the action on dance floor or track. Handheld was also employed for the more intimate and emotional scenes.
You ended up using a new set of Panavision prototype large-format spherical lenses for the movie. What made you choose those lenses for the look you wanted?
Morgan: Dan Sasaki [Panavision's senior vice president of optical engineering and lens strategy] reached out to me during Covid, and we talked about an independent movie I was going to do that was about a female running out in the countryside. I knew I wouldn't be able to control the light, so I was looking for lenses that were going to be softer so the natural light wouldn't be so harsh on the actor's face. He mentioned some prototypes that he was building and said they might work really well.
I never shot that movie, as I was having my baby by the time it went, but when I spoke to Livi, we talked about lenses, and I knew that Dan's glass would be a great fit. I knew I wanted to shoot the movie in large format to embrace a more expansive field of view, and I also knew that anamorphic lenses would counteract that.
I took Livi out to Panavision in Woodland Hills to chat with Dan. We looked at a variety of l
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
07/08/2025
July 8 2025, 22:30 (PDT) Tata Motors & Dolby Bring Dolby Atmos to Harrier.ev, R...
12/07/2025
As the death toll continues to mount, with at least 120 killed and more than 170 people still missing on July 10 from devastating Texas floods, a number of broa...
12/07/2025
EL SEGUNDO, Calif., and MIAMI -DirecTV and TelevisaUnivision have signed a deal that will make the ad-supported premium subscription tier of ViX, ViX Premium wi...
11/07/2025
PARK CITY, UTAH, July 11, 2025 - The nonprofit Sundance Institute announced today the 11 producers chosen for its annual Producers Labs, returning to Ucross Fou...
11/07/2025
If you've ever wondered what might be playing in Clark Kent's headphones...
11/07/2025
L3Harris Technologies President of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Jason Lambert and General Manager of L3Harris Waco facility Sean Ling held a ce...
11/07/2025
ARLINGTON, Va. WETA, the flagship public media station in the national capital area, has launched WETA+, a new streaming service tailored for the local Washingt...
11/07/2025
The Federal Communications Commission has emerged as one of the central players in the broadcast TV landscape in 2025, with its deregulatory policies sparking h...
11/07/2025
Calrec will introduce usability, customization and system enhancements across its entire range of Argo consoles during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Amsterda...
11/07/2025
LONDON Encompass Digital Media said it will support live and on-demand viewing of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup across multiple global regions for sports enterta...
11/07/2025
Two-thirds of broadcast engineers reaped the benefits of a pay raise within the last year....
11/07/2025
CARY, N.C. SmallHD has launched the Quantum 27, a new 26.5-inch Quantum-Dot OLED monitor designed to deliver postproduction image quality in a compact, set-frie...
11/07/2025
The Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau and Tegna have entered into a consent decree that will settle an investigation into the accidenta...
11/07/2025
WASHINGTON Following news in early July that Paramount had settled President Donald Trump's lawsuit, Sens. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Ben Ray Luj n (D-N...
11/07/2025
Model/Actriz Performs Lead Single Cinderella on The Late Show with Stephen Colbe...
11/07/2025
Behind the Mic: Amazon Prime Preps for First Season of NBA Action; MSG Networks ...
11/07/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Suite Studios' Craig Hering on Adapting to Client...
11/07/2025
2025 SVG Content Management Forum Breaks Down AI's Impact, Continued Transit...
11/07/2025
A Journey HOME: University of Nebraska's HuskerVision Goes IP Leaders from the HuskerVision and Lawo share their IP learnings By SVG Staff
Friday, July 1...
11/07/2025
CMSI, Remote Picture Labs, Ace ESPN's Cloud-Based Editing Efforts for Wimble...
11/07/2025
Netflix Enters the Live-Boxing-Production Ring for Round 2 With Historic Taylor-...
11/07/2025
Back to All News
Too Hot to Handle: Italy Is Coming on July 18 Only on Netflix
Entertainment
11 July 2025
GlobalItaly
Link copied to clipboard
July 11, 20...
11/07/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Will Release Death Inc. Seasons 1, 2 and 3
Entertainment
11 July 2025
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
Season 1
Season 2
Se...
11/07/2025
AI and Multimedia Authenticity Standards Collaboration launches two papers to guide the future of AI integration, today at the AI for Good Global Summit
The...
11/07/2025
Ceramics - the humble mix of earth, fire and artistry - have been part of a global conversation for millennia.
From Tang Dynasty trade routes to Renaissance pa...
10/07/2025
The current holder of the prestigious Thomson Foundation Young Journalist of the Year Award has been forced to stop reporting over fears for her safety in Afgha...
10/07/2025
Spotify is turning up the volume on Australian music with a multipronged initiative designed to highlight the dominance of Australian artists on the global stag...
10/07/2025
This is not a drill: Oasis is back on the road-marking its first live performanc...
10/07/2025
The music industry depends on fresh ideas, bold voices, and emerging talent. Yet across the U.K., too many young musicians lack the space to develop their craft...
10/07/2025
NEW YORK - July 10, 2025 - Nielsen, the global leader in audience measurement, data and analytics, today announced that it appointed Richard Pacheco as head of ...
10/07/2025
Local newscasts don't exist in a vacuum. News directors and station management constantly evaluate what's working, what isn't and perhaps most impor...
10/07/2025
Lawo has announced that Stuttgart Media University (Hochschule der Medien, HdM) has comprehensively modernized its central recording studio after selecting an I...
10/07/2025
The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) has opened early-bird registration for the Media Technology Summit, which will take place in a ne...
10/07/2025
NASHVILLE, Tenn. TNDV Television has launched Aspiration 35, a new version of its 40-foot Aspiration truck reimagined for cinematic multicamera productions....
10/07/2025
BURBANK, Calif. Key Code Education, a provider of instructor-led postproduction training, is growing its curriculum with new programs for beginner and intermedi...
10/07/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. Actus Digital will demonstrate how broadcasters can transform compliance monitoring from a necessary expense into a strategic revenue driver at...
10/07/2025
The Federal Register has published a summary of the Federal Communications Commission's Public Notice seeking comments on its ownership rules that lists a d...
10/07/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Presents the Official Trailer for SuperestarPlay Video
Play Video
Entertainment
10 July 2025
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard...
10/07/2025
In the race to understand our planet's changing climate, speed and accuracy are everything. But today's most widely used climate simulators often strugg...
10/07/2025
As one of the world's largest emerging markets, Indonesia is making strides toward its Golden 2045 Vision - an initiative tapping digital technologies and...
10/07/2025
10 Jul 2025
VEON and Cohen Circle Secure Investor Commitments for Kyivstar Listing Kyiv, New York, Dubai, and Philadelphia - July 10, 2025 - VEON Ltd. (Nasdaq:...
10/07/2025
5G for all? What the DFL's use of Easy5G and RefCam could mean for events in...
10/07/2025
Save the Date: PGA TOUR Studios Welcomes SVG Remote Production Summit on Oct 14-...
10/07/2025
Cloud on the Road: How Remote-Production-Service Providers Are Adapting to a New...
10/07/2025
Seattle Kraken's Ryan Schaber on the NHL Team Taking Live Game Productions I...
10/07/2025
FOX Sports Reboots Small Control Room in Los Angeles as Hub for Vertical-First P...
10/07/2025
SVG Sit-Down: MSE's Zach Leonsis, ViewLift's Rick Allen Go Deep on Joint...
Based on the best-selling mystery novel of the same name, the feature Where the Crawdads Sing tells the story of Kya (Daisy Edgar-Jones), a young woman who grew up isolated in the North Carolina marshes and is implicated in a murder. Directed by Olivia Newman, the movie was shot by cinematographer Polly Morgan, ASC, BSC, whose long history of working with Panavision goes back to her days as a production assistant in London. Panavision recently spoke with Morgan about her collaboration with Newman and their choice of optics for the feature.
