Bradford's National Media Museum explores the worlds of every modern media

The Kodak Gallery takes visitors on a journey through the history of photography, from the world’s first images to the digital snapshots of today. Most items on display are taken from the museum’s collection of 35,000 objects and images donated by Kodak Ltd.

The gallery, looking at the invention of photography, examines the work of early pioneers Niépce, Talbot and Daguerre, and includes a reconstructed Victorian photographic portrait studio. It follows the birth of popular photography, exploring the move from its confinement with professionals and wealthy amateurs to its emergence as a popular pastime. Visitors can take a walk around Kodak display cases to view cameras from the 1880s onwards.

From the history of photography, it’s a short walk to the moving image. What did TV sets look like half a century ago? How much are we influenced by adverts on TV? What does a vision mixer do? The answers to these questions and more about the world of the small screen can be found in the interactive Experience TV gallery.

The gallery looks at the invention and evolution of television, taking visitors on a journey from John Logie Baird's early prototype to colour transmissions, recording devices and satellite television.

Visitors can take on the roles of actors in a TV drama, vision mix an episode of Emmerdale, present the news, operate a camera in a mock-up studio and experiment with video editing. Also in Production zone, youngsters can have fun walking with dinosaurs or hanging out with the Teletubbies, thanks to the chromakey technique show.

The Power of Television zone looks at how television became the most influential invention of the 20th century; shaping our attitudes, knowledge and lifestyles. As well as looking back on classic TV adverts and memorable moments from Will Young winning Pop Idol to Princess Diana’s funeral, visitors can access classic programmes in TV Heaven.

Access to more than 2,500 film and television programmes are now available at the click of a mouse in Mediatheque, containing British films and TV programmes from the BFI National Archive and a selection from TV Heaven collection and the Yorkshire Film Archive.

Visitors can sit at a viewing station and browse footage including reproductions of the Great Yorkshire Show at Bradford in 1901; a 1976 profile of Mohamed Fazal Hussain, founding member of Bradford’s Pakistani community and a part-time action movie director; Rita, Sue and Bob Too, the 1986 film based on Andrea Dunbar’s play about two teenagers from a Bradford council estate; David Hockney: A Bigger Picture, a lively documentary marking the Bradford artist’s return to Yorkshire; and Andrea Arnold’s 2010 film of Wuthering Heights.

Other items in the archives include a turn-of-the-century Punch and Judy show in Halifax; home movies of Hull’s pioneering aviator Amy Johnson; Helen of Four Gates, a 1920 silent melodrama shot around Hebden Bridge; and pilot episodes of Last of the Summer Wine and All Creatures Great and Small.

There’s more retro fun in the Games Lounge, where visitors can play their way through classic games in their original arcade or console formats, including Commodore, Atari and Nintendo and, in the table format, Pac-Man, Donkey Kond and Asteroids.

The Digital Gaming Timeline traces the evolution of digital gaming, from its birth in 1952 to modern developments, and there’s chance to discover more about the history of animation within videogames through classic titles such as Prince of Persia and Actua Soccer.

In Life Online, the world’s first gallery dedicated to exploring the social, technological and cultural impact of the internet, you can trace the history of the internet, uncover how it has changed people’s lives and track the latest trends.

The gallery covers two spaces; a permanent exhibition in the foyer tracking the history of the internet, from the first email to the rise of social networking, and a temporary exhibition space on Level 7.

The Animation Gallery, exploring the history of animation, brings visitors face-to-face with the Smash Martian puppets and sets from the Wombles and Wallace and Gromit adventure The Wrong Trousers.

The gallery examines the work of animators such as Barry Purves, Aardman and Ray Harryhausen, and there’s the chance to watch clips and see original artwork, puppet models and sets from titles such as Animal Farm, Dangermouse, Morph, Andy Pandy and Jason and the Argonauts For younger visitors, the Magic Factory is home to hands-on exhibits - including a cackling witch, magic mirrors and a pinhole camera - helping to develop our understanding of the science behind photography, film and television in a lively, fun way.

Artefacts on display in the museum make up just a fraction of the overall collection, comprising 3.5 million items. Visitors are invited to take Insight tours behind-the-scenes, looking around the Collections and Research centre where hundreds of thousands of items are stored in special ‘mico-climates’.

The museum’s extensive national collection, split into photography, film, television and new media, includes the world’s earliest known surviving negative, the earliest television footage and the camera that made the earliest moving pictures in Britain.

The Photography Collection traces developments from Victorian experiments to contemporary digital imaging, and includes key images by influential photographers.

The collection comprises the Daily Herald Archive, containing two million photographs from 1930-1969, the Royal Photographic Society Collection, the Kodak Museum Collection, and two cameras used to create the world-famous Cottingley Fairies hoax images taken between 1917 and 1920 by ten-year-old Frances Griffiths and her older cousin Elsie Wright.

The Cinematography Collection traces the history of cinema, from optical toys to today’s motion picture and digital technologies. It includes rare objects such as 18th and 19th century lantern slides and projection equipment, drawings from the Hammer Horror studio and a Zeitlupe camera used to record German V-bomb experiments during the Second World War. The archive also includes the Ray Harryhausen Collection documenting the film-maker’s work over a 40-year career.

The Television Collection traces the evolution of TV from the late 19th century to the present, with items including John Logie Baird’s 1925 experimental apparatus.

There’s a range of television sets dating back to 1928, an archive of classic TV commercials and the world’s first practicable video recorder, the Ampex VR1000 1956.

Completing the museum’s extensive national collection is the New Media Collection, exploring how the digital revolution has transformed the way media is produced, delivered and accessed. A collection of home computer systems and software traces the rise of the internet, and devices used to connect to it, while gaming is represented in the National Videogame Archive, a collection of hardware, original software and designs documenting the role of videogames in our cultural life.

WHAT'S ON THIS SUMMER

Summer events at the museum include an exhibition tracing the journey of classic children's stories from the page to the small and big screen.

Axel Sheffler, illustrator of popular children's book The Gruffalo, was at the launch of Moving Stories which features objects relating to popular characters from books and their on-screen counterparts, such as Snow White, Shrek, Peter Pan and The Gruffalo.

Using original manuscripts, story-boards and sketches, costumes and film, Moving Stories focuses on the creative processes involved in adaptations and the different forms they can take. Highlights include Roald Dahl's original illustrated notebook for Fantastic Mr Fox displayed along-side puppets from the 2009 film, directed by Wes Anderson.

There are costumes from Martin Scorsese's film Hugo, adapted from Brian Selznick's novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret, and original manuscripts and illustrations from The Borrowers and Mr Stink, both adapted by the BBC.

Visitors can take a journey with Alice in Wonderland, from Lewis Carroll's 1858 photograph of Alice Liddell, the girl who inspired the character of his novel, to various modern film and television versions of this surreal story.

Fairy tales such as Snow White and Cinderella, featuring Disney story sketches and an early edition copy of Grimm's Fairy Tales, also have a presence.

The exhibition runs until October 6.

On Tuesday, August 13. the museum will play host to a live broadcast from the Victoria and Albert Museum. David Bowie is Happening Now is a nationwide cinema event screened live as the finale to the V&A's successful exhibition. The event, in which guests will offer an insight into stories behind some of the 300 objects in the David Bowie Archive, gives visitors a final opportunity to experience the exhibition in the UK before it goes on international tour.

• Address: City centre, Bradford, BD1 1NQ. Telephone: 0844 8563797. website: nationalmediamuseum.org.uk. Opening times: Galleries and museum shop are open daily from 10am to 6pm. Cinemas are open daily from 10am to late, and the Pictureville Bar is open daily from 5pm to 9pm. How to find it: Signposted in the city centre, and a short walk from Bradford Interchange and Bradford Forster Square station. The freecitybus follows a circular route stopping at key locations around the city centre. By Car - take junction 26 off the M62 and follow the brown tourist signs on the approach to Bradford city centre. The nearest car parks are Sharpe Street and Radwell Drive, behind the museum. The nearest multi-storey car parks are on Hall Ings and Thornton Road. Admission: Free, but there are charges for cinema entrance and special events Access and facilities: There is a drop-off/pick-up point and three spaces for blue badge holders at the front of the museum. There are lifts to all floors in the museum. Museum shop: The shop offers a range of souvenirs, including books, DVDs, toys, cards and posters Cafe: The Media Café is open daily from 10am. The menu includes handmade pizzas, soup, homemade cakes and hot drinks, deli sandwiches made with speciality breads and salads. Highchairs are available and the museum supports the Breastfeeding Welcome Here Scheme. Visitors are welcome to bring their own food to eat in the designated picnic area on the ground floor.