''3 Minutes'' is an action-oriented

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

that was released on January 10, 2011. Production on the film commenced in 2010, with director

Ross Ching Ross Ching is an American filmmaker based in Los Angeles, California. Early life and education Ching grew up in San Jose, California. He started making skateboarding videos as a teenager. Ching went on to study film at San Diego State Universit ...

at the helm, alongside producers Don Le and George Wang. The film stars

Harry Shum, Jr. Harry Shum Jr. (born April 28, 1982) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Mike Chang on the Fox television series ''Glee'' (2009–2015), Magnus Bane on the Freeform television series ''Shadowhunters'' (2016–2019), and Dr. Benso ...

Stephen "tWitch" Boss Stephen Laurel "tWitch" Boss (September 29, 1982December 13, 2022) was an American freestyle dance, freestyle hip hop dancer, choreographer, actor, television producer, and television personality. In 2008, he finished in second place on the Am ...

Katrina Law Katrina Law is an American actress. She is known for playing the roles of Mira on the Starz television series '' Spartacus: Blood and Sand'' and '' Spartacus: Vengeance'', Nyssa al Ghul on The CW television series ''Arrow'', Karen Beach on th ...

, and Thaine Allison Jr. The

special effects Special effects (often abbreviated as F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the fictional events in a story or virtual world. ...

work was provided by David Adametz and the score composed by Paul Dateh.

Plot

The film centers on the unnamed main character (Harry Shum) receiving a handgun from an old man (Thaine Allison Jr.) and being told he has to complete an unspecified task within three minutes. Shum's character then rushes into a storage yard in pursuit of "Steve" (Stephen Boss), who evades Shum's gunshots and hides. Steve finds a dead body (Nicholas Acosta) holding a

lightsaber A lightsaber is a fictional energy sword featured throughout ''Star Wars''. A typical lightsaber is shown as a luminous laser sword about in length emitted from a metal hilt around in length. First introduced in the original ''Star Wars'' ...

, and uses the weapon to disarm Shum, who draws his own lightsaber. After a short battle, Shum decapitates Steve and runs back to the old man, where he is told that his time was three minutes, eighteen seconds. Shum panics and runs away. A fourth unnamed character (Katrina Law) comes forward and receives a pistol from the old man who repeats his "three minutes" instruction. Law's character then leaves the garage, presumably in pursuit of Shum. The project is part two of a projected trilogy of short films including a prequel and sequel. The film was originally designed as a vehicle to showcase a wider range of acting skills for the two leads, Harry Shum Jr. and Stephen "tWitch" Boss, especially outside of the singing and dancing sphere. ''3 Minutes'' has received coverage from the official

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

site,

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.com, and

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, as well as the ''

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'', '' Seventeen'', ''

Audrey Audrey () is a feminine given name. It is rarely a masculine given name. Audrey is the Anglo-Norman form of the Anglo-Saxon name ''Æðelþryð'', composed of the elements '' æðel'' "noble" and '' þryð'' "strength". The literal definition of ...

'', and ''

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''. It was also featured on

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's Staff Pick of the Day on its debut day.

References

External links

"3 Minutes" on Vimeo
* {{IMDb title, id=1819443, title=3 Minutes 2011 short films 2011 films African-American films American science fiction short films 2011 science fiction action films American science fiction action films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films English-language science fiction action films English-language short films