Address Is Approximate (2011) Online

This short film is barely 3 minutes long but yet it managed to grab me and charm me within seconds and leave me feeling better than I did at the start. Essentially it is a stop-motion animation where some action figures/toys in a typical tech office come to life after the employees have headed home. This doesn't tell you the beauty of the film though because what these characters do when they come to life is that a robotic figure drags a model of a classic American car in front of the computer and sits back while another figure goes to Google Maps' Street View and furiously clicks forward while the other experiences the sensation of driving.

This is such a simple idea but like so many simple ideas it is a great one when done right, and this film does it right. The concept alone is worthy of note but the manner of delivery is great. The character sits in front of a screen and the google view is stop-motion animated which, in itself is a good idea, but the film also adds animation to the "real" world – so potted plants in the office move by when he "drives" through a forest, desk lamps rotate as he drives through a tunnel and so on – it is a clever second layer and it adds a great deal.

The use of the Cinematic Orchestra track "Arrival of the Birds" is a great choice of score as it conveys wonder and development at the same time and I loved how it set the mood. The robot character is simple but when the whole product comes together you cannot help but put emotions onto this character and I felt for him and his experience. It is such a great idea and so well delivered in a total product that it is hard not to love; it is not easy to totally win over a viewer in a few minutes, but this short more than managed that with me.