Maps in Personal Documentary Video: Tell a Story With Historical Maps

It's hard to imagine a personal documentary or family history video which cannot be enhanced by the inclusion of detail from historical or even current maps. But what is the best way to incorporate maps in our family history documentary projects?

Have you seen Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca lately? The film opens with the credits appearing over a map of Africa while a stylized version of La Marseillaise plays. We then dissolve to a shot of the globe, rotating, as we slowly move in towards North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula. Voice-over tells us:

With the coming of the Second World War, many eyes in imprisoned Europe turned hopefully, or desperately, toward the freedom of the Americas. Lisbon became the great embarkation point. But not everybody could get to Lisbon directly, and so, a tortuous, roundabout refugee trail sprang up.

Now we see a map of France with Paris at its center and a line being drawn south to Marseilles then across the Mediterranean Sea. As the camera pulls back we get a partial-opacity overlay of refugees crossing a bridge. The voice-over continues:

Paris to Marseilles, across the Mediterranean to Oran, then by train, or auto, or foot, across the rim of Africa to Casablanca in French Morocco.

Then we cross-fade to a Moroccan minaret and are told that the next step for hapless refugees is purloining an exit visa to Lisbon which is the launching point for America. It is exit visas, and Rick's (Humphrey Bogart's) decision once he comes into possession of two of them, which drives the plot of Casablanca.

Now that's how you use maps in film!

Lessons from the Classics

OK, it's not the only way, but you can do worse than to study the classics. So, what are the lessons for the personal documentary or family history video maker?

First, maps are a great way to locate your story. They are like an establishing shot telling the viewer where the action will take place. Normally you would use a wide shot of a town or a house or building, but in family history documentary you don't always have even that. So a map can be a great place to start.

Second, you can use maps to show travel from one place to another. In Casablanca, we have a line that starts in Paris and ends up in Morocco. If your story is an immigration story, revealing lines from Europe to New York Harbor to the Midwest (say) is a great way to show an ancestor's journey.

How do you create lines in video? Simple. Just draw the line across your map in Photoshop (red is always a good color) then import the image into your editing suite as two layers. Use your motion tab to crop the line-image layer then key-frame the crop setting to make the line reveal itself! (There are also some line-creation plug-ins you can buy.)

Third, you can create powerful blended effects using maps overlain with video or graphics. Casablanca does this by combining maps with film images of refugees.

How do you create blended images in video editing? I'm sure it is a lot easier now than it was in 1942! The easiest way is to create a second layer of video and adjust its opacity. A more dramatic alternative is to play with the blending or "composite" options and see what works best (in Final Cut Pro select the layer then the commands are: Modify > Composite Mode > then choose an item from the menu ("overlay' is a personal favorite)).

At the very end of Casablanca, I think Rick surprises himself by his decision about what to do with the exit visas. Incorporate maps into your personal documentary and you might find you surprise yourself!



Jane Lehmann-Shafron is a video biographer who co-founded Your Story Here LLC Personal Documentaries, a video production company that specializes in preserving family history. Based in Orange County CA, she was recently featured in national women's magazine "Woman's World" and her award-winning films have been featured in festivals in the United States and Canada. She can be contacted on 949-742-2755 or through her website.