The Bit Player

I am very confused by this. Most of this documentary seems to be composed of a reconstruction by actors. There is very little real information, real photos or real footage.

Also, if you are looking for a more in depth view of information theory, you will be very disappointed. This documentary focuses mostly on his life and the people in his life and teaches me almost nothing about information.

The problem with this documentary is the acted out interviews of Claude Shannon, his wife and the interviewer... who all unfortunately come across as amateur actors even though they aren't. The pausing for every thought is tedious to watch. The construct detracts from the actual information contained in the documentary and seems to take up at least a third of the overall running time. It made me think that I was watching some sort of mockumentary at first.

Well!!! This is not a documentary but yes its good to have a content created for an overlooked genius. It is a kind of Documentary - Drama version. It has been enacted as per scripts however very well , undoubtedly. Actors has done pretty well job on that. You will not get any hints that it is a drama documentary type. All the interviews are re enacted of old contents. There would be always a question on contents if it is drama version, nevertheless worth watching. His achievements speak for themselves, and he is certainly a person whom anyone who uses a smartphone or computer should know about. The Bit Player is the perfect title for this informative.

Cheers!!!!!

This is a tremendously good telling of Claude Shannon's work, career and impact which I think will be a great help in giving him the wide recognition he deserves. Someone said it's "not quite a documentary" which is not a criticism though and it takes few liberties with the facts, unlike the Imitation Game for example!

So few people have heard of Claude Shannon, and his impact is bigger than all of the household names. He sought a "universal theory of communication" for the accurate and efficient transmission of information. The documentary succeeds in explaining concepts simply and clearly. The film also links Shannon's interests in Information and communication to his early interests in codes. Commissioned by the IEEE Society, The Bit Player is the perfect title for this informative film portraying the "father of information theory".