How ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ DP Polly Morgan Captured the Characteristics of the Marsh World

variety.com:

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorWhen cinematographer Polly Morgan and director Olivia Newman were brought on to adapt Delia Owens’ bestselling novel, “Where the Crawdads Sing,” the story spoke to them on a natural level.The Sony Pictures film of the same name, in theaters July 15, tells the tale of Kya (Daisy Edgar- Jones), a young woman raising herself in the marshes of North Carolina in the 1950s.

Her journey — and her relationship to nature in particular — resonated with Morgan (“A Quiet Place Part II,” “6 Balloons”). Her own experiences growing up in West Sussex in the U.K., “in the middle of nowhere with the nearest house miles away,” seemed familiar.When a man Kya was once involved with is murdered, the woman known to the community of Barkley Cove as Marsh Girl be- comes the prime suspect.

In navigating how to capture the characteristics of the marsh world, Newman and Morgan relied on Owens’ words: “Marsh is not swamp.

Marsh is a space of light where grass grows in water and water flows into the sky.”With that line serving as inspiration, Morgan explains her idea behind the opening sequence: “We wanted to take people from this open world of the marsh, its light and reflective water to show the beauty that is there.” Through the flight of a heron, we follow Kya’s saga, which transports the viewer “deep into the marsh.”The DP also used a fluid sequence that intercuts with two young boys on bikes to show marsh life. “We wanted from the beginning to take the viewer — grab them, take them down into the swamp and never let them go,” she says.In discussing how to position the camera for the scene, Morgan and Newman decided that a drone would be the perfect tool to accomplish that fluidity.