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)