ABSTRACT
Many filmmakers use what are known as recreations to visualize events, either to augment a sparse visual record or because the recreations better serve their storytelling needs. The filmmakers are creating an audiovisual impression that has landed on a single interpretation of the crime, when other versions may be possible or the chosen version is contested. It's shot in a way that leaves no doubt that it was created by the filmmaker for the purpose of illustration or imagination; there is no mistaking it for actual footage of the interrogation. The treatment of time on screen is important because of the way we experience movies: Film is a linear medium. People watch it from beginning to end, with one shot following another, one sequence following another, until the film is over. An example of a documentary that creates a false impression of chronology, to the detriment of an otherwise powerful argument and film, is Michael Moore's Roger & Me.
