Eames: The Architect & The Painter Page #13

he cared about it, but he just,

he couldn't stop himself.

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FRANCO:
Charles and Ray's career

began with a utopian notion

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of providing low-cost,

high-quality goods to the masses

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through industrial production.

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But they never viewed their work

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for corporate titans

as selling out.

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ALBRECHT:
They wanted to work

for the Google of their time,

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and they did, and it allowed

them incredible experimentation.

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And they believed they could

have a bigger impact

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on everyday life by working

for the bigger company.

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FRANCO:

IBM shared Charles's concern

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that American kids were falling

behind in math and science.

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And as usual, they gave

the Office free rein

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to address the problem.

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Maybe, Charles felt,

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a film could help.

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NARRATOR:
We begin

with a scene one meter wide,

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which we view from just

one meter away.

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Now, every ten seconds,

we will look

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from ten times farther away,

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and our field of view will be

ten times wider.

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FRANCO:
"Powers of Ten" would

become the best known

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of all the Eames films,

viewed in countless classrooms

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and copied freely by

filmmakers around the world.

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SCHRADER:
Everyone has seen

"Powers of Ten."

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They may not have seen

the version Charles did,

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but they have seen

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one of the countless rip-offs

ofthat film.

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NARRATOR:
Ten to the sixth,

a one with six zeros,

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a million meters...

soon the earth will show

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as a solid sphere.

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TONDREAU:
Nobody had done

a movie like that.

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How can you fail,

doing a cosmic zoom

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in and out from all that is?

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And so the concept is,

all by itself, mind-blowing.

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NARRATOR:
The trip back to

the picnic on the lakefront

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will be a sped-up version,

reducing the distance

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to the Earth's surface by one

power of ten every two seconds.

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It's "Ch-ch-ch-ch-shoo,"

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excessive information,

dizzying information.

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NARRATOR:
Ten to the ninth

meters,

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ten to the eighth...

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SCHRADER:
Like in a chase

sequence in a movie,

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everything is going by so fast,

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it forces the observer to choose

the information

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that's truly important,

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which is the car

or the person

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that is running away from you...

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i.e., the idea.

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NARRATOR:
One. We are back

a tour starting point.

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SCHRADER:
Eames was aware that,

in fact,

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that this was somewhat dizzying,

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and that it wasn't possible

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to get all

of this information across

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in a single viewing,

and that was fine.

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What he probably didn't know

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was that he was also looking

into the future

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of audio-visual perception.

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The pace at which we receive

information today

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is as fast as he was doing

back then.

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NARRATOR:
As a single proton

fills our scene,

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we reach the edge

of present understanding.

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SUSSMAN:
As time went on,

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Charles became more and more

and more interested in ideas,

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especially science

and mathematics.

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Ray was less engaged.

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I mean, I'm no mathematician,

and I'm no... not an architect,

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I'm not... I haven't had

certain training,

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so I just try to help in the way

that I... in any way I can.

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I don't stop to think

whether I can.

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I just go as far as I can.

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And if I...

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if I can't, I can't.

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TONDREAU:
I think Ray

may have suffered

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from a feeling

of marginalization,

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because some

of those last projects

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were heavy on ideas

and not as heavy

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on the kind of visual richness

that was Ray's forte.

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GIOVANNINl:
She's no longer

as instrumental

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in the entire thing.

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She can apply an aesthetic,

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she can dress a set, and so on,

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but, um, she's no longer

as central.

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FRANCO:
Ray's exquisite taste,

her eye for form and color,

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made her indispensible

to the Office.

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But it could also be

a terrible burden.

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OPPEWALL:
I remember peering

into Ray's office

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only once or twice,

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because when the door opened

and I looked into it,

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I thought, "I don't ever want

to look in there again,

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