Collections - Cinematography

Started in 1913 with the gift of equipment from the British cinema pioneer Robert W Paul, our collection now contains over 13,000 objects and artefacts. It traces the pre-history and history of cinema, from optical toys, magic lanterns and illusions up to today’s converging motion picture and digital technologies.

The collection naturally focuses on British film, with prime examples of equipment from major studios – Technicolor cameras, a Mitchell camera from Ealing, a VistaVision camera used both by Marlon Brando and for the James Bond films, the first-ever Dolby Sound Camera from Elstree and Moviola editors and a sound desk from Pinewood. There are also British and American film posters (printed in Bradford by W E Berry) and Bollywood posters: cinema is international.

We have stills documenting the making of major films like Lawrence of Arabia; stunning portraits of stars by Cornel Lucas and Bob Willoughby; drawings and artefacts – including Dracula's fangs – by Hammer Horror make-up artists Phil Leakey and Roy Ashton; Tom and Jerry animation drawings; even frame samples from most of the major film processes from 1895 to the present day. An important part of the collection records the rise and fall of amateur film-making and how 16mm film, originally marketed for rich amateurs, was adopted by professionals for documentaries and television.