The mission of this website is to introduce young people to the portable cameras that shaped the history of cinema and our vision of the world. Through a selection of film clips, informative fact sheets, podcasts and a virtual filmmaking activity, they will learn about the six cameras in our virtual collection. They will have an opportunity to manipulate these cameras by filming a clip in the Shoot your own Scene section, and will gain insight into the influence these devices have had on the relationships between camera operators’ bodies, cameras themselves and the subjects being filmed.

This interactive filmmaking experience aims to give 12- to 17-year-olds a sense of how the evolution in portability of six selected cameras changed the way people perceive and represent the world. They will be invited to manipulate the cameras in order to learn about the mechanics of filmmaking and understand the influence cameras have on the relationships between camera operators, cameras and subjects, thus gaining a deeper understanding of what goes on “behind the scenes.”