3+1

Three graduates making a 7-minute stop-motion comedy sounds like the setup for something safe and cute—except they've somehow weaponized the absurdist energy into something that actually *feels* unhinged rather than just winking at the camera. I'm suspicious it'll hold up, but right now it's grinning at me like it knows something.

The character design is assured and the pacing snaps with the discipline of proper animation training, though one wonders if the bonkers storyline is restraint or just surface sparkle—it reads more as entertainment than statement, which isn't nothing, but it's not quite enough for the conversation.

What lifts this beyond student work is the specific textural choice in the stop-motion itself—there's a tactile, slightly imperfect quality to the movement that makes the whimsy land as genuine rather than slick, and that decision to keep it rough is what separates this from a dozen polished shorts with the same premise.

And that's exactly what you get with EMCA grad film 3+1 – a 7-minute stop-motion short featuring some excellent character design and a bonkers storyline…this is non-stop, grin-inducing fun.

Combining a charming DIY aesthetic with a farcical narrative, this is a film that feels playful and free of restriction, a film that really brings out the inner-child, without ever feeling like it's trying too hard to be intentionally family-friendly or "cartoonish". Its ridiculous storyline making it feel both frivolous and instantly likeable, bringing immediate joy whilst watching, whilst still being memorable enough to reverborate long after watching.

3+1 is just one of a number of films from the EMCA stable that has impressed this year.