Emma Maxwell

Some of the camera techniques used in "Minority Report" include:

1. the use of shadows to emphasize Tom Cruise's character's ignorance of the truth and the idea that he is "in the dark"
2. the lighting in the room John Anderton and Lara walk into when they begin to figure out what is actually going in with Pre-Crime
3. placing John Anderton and the man from the Justice Department on opposite sides of the shot, so as to create a combative mood and foreshadow conflict
4. making the room where the Pre-Cogs are kept very light and sterile... the camera often focuses on them from above so as to almost take away their humanity
5. one camera angle used is during the chase scenes when the camera follows Tom Cruise (rather than the pursuers) so that the suspense is built because the viewer doesn't know where the men chasing John Anderton are

I think that the most effective camera technique in this movie is the use of light (and the use of shadows and the dark) because not only is it noticeable in all of the scenes it is employed in, but it also has deeper symbolic meaning. The change of darkness to light is immediately noticeable and foreshadows John Anderton's exposure to the truth towards the end of the movie.

Science is used in "Minority Report" in many ways. 

• The Pre-Cogs are used to help predict future murders. They were children with parents who were addicted to drugs and so the children were put into experimental treatment. During this time the drugs and medical treatment caused the Pre-Cogs to begin having visions. The scientists who were running this experiment discovered that the visions actually depicted future murders, and that the patients were always correct. Thus, the Pre-Cogs were born. They are used so that murders don't have to happen and the murderers can still be found guilty and taken off the streets. Basically, the criminals go away and the actual crimes don't even have to happen. It seems foolproof.
• The Pre-Cogs are kept in a pool in a room that is housed in Pre-Crime Headquarters. This room is nicknamed "The Temple." This is significant because the Pre-Cogs are honored with a reverence that is basically worship by almost all of America. The environment is completely isolated and virtually nobody is allowed in. The Pre-Cogs are kept in a state of semi-consciousness. They are not aware of what is happening around them and are given all of the materials they need to live through tubes. They are valued only for their brains and the visions they contain.
• From a medical perspective, it may be unethical to treat the Pre-Cogs in the way that they are treated because they are not able to live in the way they are supposed to. They cannot have children and really are incapable of caring for themselves. This is risky because if anything ever happened to disrupt the system that the Pre-Cogs are kept in, the Pre-Cogs would be completely hopeless to survive. The outside is too different for the Pre-Cogs and they lose the basic human capability of protecting themselves.