I first became aware of Reed Morano’s work after seeing The Handmaid’s Tale, of which she directed the first three episodes of, and although she wasn’t the cinematographer on that project, the way every shot in the show looked so beautiful and considered that Morano’s previous experience as a cinematographer was somewhat apparent and made me want to find more of her work as a cinematographer. By looking at the bio on her website, I learnt that she often shoots herself while directing her projects, which further explains the way the projects she has directed feel so aware of the light in the frame.

Morano has worked on a range of different projects, including feature films such as Kill Your Darlings (2013) and music videos including Sandcastles for Beyoncé’s visual album Lemonade. (Her narrative reel can be found here). While all of the her work I have looked at for my research are unique and have a style which is appropriate for the project, there are a number of elements and techniques which reoccur through her work.

One of the most obvious technique Morano seems to have a preference for is shallow depth of focus. This can be seen in Sandcastles for the close-ups of Beyoncé, particularly where the window or fire is blurred in the background. This choice allows Morano to shift focus, for example, when the camera pulls focus from the Nina Simone record case to the record spinning on the record player.

I found a number of Morano’s shots use large windows through which the light has been dispersed so that the windows have a soft and warm glow to them, and they don’t produce clear cut shadows on the floor beneath them. In both the Beyoncé and the Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros video clips, she contrasts these windows with silhouettes, however the ones in Beyoncé’s are more defined as the figures are standing further away from the window, whilst the figure in the Edward Sharpe video climbs out of the window, meaning his shadow becomes blown out by the light as he approaches the window.

Just from looking at these two music videos as well as her narrative reel, you quickly notice Morano’s tendency to opt for a neutral colour palette, as she tends to use a lot of browns, yellows and creams rather than bolder colours, which tends to give her shots a more realistic feel whilst still being cinematic and beautiful. Another element which contributes to the realistic feel is the way she often gives the appearance that she is only using natural light, or light sources clearly visible in the shot like table or ceiling lamps. Of course this almost defintely isn’t the case, but by using ‘natural’, and particularly diffused light, the audience is more willing to accept the shot as something which resembles the way the world looks in reality.

Another element which contributes to Morano’s realistic style is her use of handheld shots. They are all clean and well controlled, so some of them you might not notice to be handheld at first viewing, but the slight movement of the camera creates a sense of imperfection and brings the shot one step closer to reality.

I really admired Morano’s ability to manipulate  light in such a precise way, whilst still allowing it to feel natural and realistic. It’s an incredible skill which takes a lot of time and practice to master, but by continuing to analysis the work of cinematographers like Morano, it’s one I hope to improve in myself.