For this particular project I decided to map a fictional timeline. My initial research included reading J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (pages 240-305) as well as watching the corresponding scene in the 2004 movie adaptation.
The intended audience is fans of Harry Potter who, most likely, are already familiar with the storyline. Creating fun visual representations of locations, characters, or plot is something already common in the fandom, springing up in Harry Potter-based online communities. This map would be intended for fans to share and use in order to understand the chronological order of the scene, or simply to look at for fun.
After plotting out the main points in two concurrent timelines (the third was discarded because it would only cause more confusion while not being instrumental to the plot), vector-based illustrations were created in Adobe Illustrator. Since I wanted my map to show locations, plot, and characters, as well as display the circular nature of this particular scene, I decided to base it on a circular model. Two rings, the outward one showing the initial timeline and the inward the future, helped me organize the information and character movements. Page numbers, which follow the curve of the map, display the ‘time’ each plot point occurs at. Locations the characters find themselves at are shown between the two timelines (as characters can find themselves in the same place as their past selves at the same time). Leading viewers through the map are footprints, similar to those used in the Marauder’s Map, an important element in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
