The Information Machine
Was produced for the IBM Corporation to be shown in its pavilion at the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair. Intended as an introduction to the electronic computer, the film uses animation to depict the computer as the culmination of centuries of tools and systems man has developed to process information. For the information Machine film Charles synthesized and extended the concepts of information theory he presented in his 1953 film A Communications Primer and explored how humans have gone about the process of solving problems before and after the advert of the electronic computer. The story of the human need to process and communicate larger and more complex amounts of information is depicted in animated sequences in which people learn to manipulate abstractions with increasing sophistication and skill. The Information Machine was the first completely animated film produced by the Eames Office. It was also their first commissioned by a client (Eliot Noyes, then design director for IBM, brought the project to the office)
An animated film made in 1957 for use in the IBM Pavilion at the Brussels World’s Fair. Because it deals mostly in the general principles surrounding man’s problems and the electronic computer, the points made in the film do not yet seem too dated. Music by Elmer Bernstein. Drawings by Dolores Cannata.
An animated film made in 1957 for use in the IBM Pavilion at the Brussels World’s Fair. Because it deals mostly in the general principles surrounding man’s problems and the electronic computer, the points made in the film do not yet seem too dated. Music by Elmer Bernstein. Drawings by Dolores Cannata.
1957
Charles and Ray produced this film for IBM’s pavilion at the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair. The Information Machine was the first completely animated project produced by the Eames Office.
Intended as an introduction to the electronic computer, the film depicts the computer as the culmination of the tools and systems we have created over the centuries to process information. It also explores how humans solved problems both before and after this technology was invented.
The Information Machine is ultimately the story of our continual need to process and communicate larger and more complex amounts of data, and how we learn to manipulate abstractions with increasing sophistication and skill.
10 minutes. Color.
