Fictional mapping: the nature of cartography in film production

Abstract

This practitioner piece considers cartographies that permeate and enable the practice of film production. Using his feature film PUNCH (2022) as a case study, Welby Ings discusses ways in which mud maps, overhead maps and relational maps were used as communicative devices in establishing a shared template for understanding the positioning of fictional spaces. Mud maps (see Danesh’s ‘7 pro tips for managing crew parking when filming on location’, 2019), are conventionally used in film production to describe geographies and inform cast and crew about locations. Overhead maps (see Isham’s ‘Creating overhead maps for film directors’, 2017), were employed in association with shot lists, as ‘graphic prompts’ when directing complex scenes. Relational or ‘mental maps’ (see Bays’, ‘Between the scenes: Choosing locations’, 2015) were used in conjunction with site drawings, to establish spatial blueprints for discussing the internal logic of the film’s world with the director of photography, production designers, location scouts, sound recordists, costumers and postproduction collaborators. As the film’s director and cartographer, the author created these maps with a unique visual language that included distinctive considerations of marginalia, typography, line weight, texture, historical allusion and colour, to communicate the emotional tone of the film’s world.