3 Minutes is an action-oriented short film that was released on January 10, 2011. Production on the film commenced in 2010, with director Ross Ching

Ross Ching

Ross Ching is an American filmmaker based in Los Angeles, California. For all his works thus far, he has been credited as director, cinematographer, and editor. He started as a teenager making skateboarding videos with his friends, which were considered slick for high school level productions...

 at the helm, alongside producers Don Le

Don Le

Don Pham Le is an American filmmaker, who started out dabbling in acting. He was featured as one of Hilary Swank's main students in the 2007 Paramount Pictures film, Freedom Writers....

 and George Wang

George Wang

George Wang is a Chinese/Taiwanese-American producer in the entertainment industry.In December 2009 through January 2010, under the Teddy Zee Productions banner, Wang produced a series of public service announcement videos to be featured on the internet with Teddy Zee , Adrian Zaw, and APEX...

. The film stars Harry Shum, Jr.

Harry Shum, Jr.

Harry Shum, Jr. is an American dancer, actor, and choreographer. He is best known for his role as Mike Chang on the FOX television show Glee. He has appeared in dance films such as Stomp the Yard, You Got Served, Step Up 2: The Streets and Step Up 3D...

, Stephen "tWitch" Boss, Katrina Law

Katrina Law

Katrina Law is an American actress of German, Italian and Taiwanese descent originally from New Jersey, USA. She represented New Jersey in the Miss Teen USA Pageant. Katrina is also the lead singer and bass player in her band "Soundboard Fiction"...

, and Thaine Allison Jr. The special effects work was provided by David Adametz and the score composed by Paul Dateh.

The film centers around the unnamed main character (Harry Shum) receiving a handgun from an old man (Thaine Allison Jr.) and being told he has three minutes to complete an unspecified task. 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

Lightsaber

A lightsaber is a fictional weapon in the Star Wars universe, a "laser sword." It consists of a polished metal hilt which projects a blade of light about 1.33 metres long. The lightsaber is the signature weapon of the Jedi order and their Sith counterparts, both of whom can use them for close...

, and uses the weapon to disarm Shum, who draws his own lightsaber. After a short battle, Shum decapitates

Decapitation

Decapitation is the separation of the head from the body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by other more sophisticated means such as a guillotine...

 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

Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...

 site, Wired

Wired News

Wired News is an online technology news website, formerly known as HotWired, that split off from Wired magazine when the magazine was purchased by Condé Nast Publishing in the 1990s. Wired News was owned by Lycos not long after the split, until Condé Nast purchased Wired News on July 11, 2006...

.com, and Gizmodo

Gizmodo

Gizmodo is a technology weblog about consumer electronics. It is part of the Gawker Media network run by Nick Denton and is known for its up-to-date coverage of the technology industry, along with topics as broad as design; architecture; space and science....

, as well as the New York Post

New York Post

The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...

, Seventeen Magazine, Audrey Magazine

Audrey magazine

Audrey is an English-language Asian American women's magazine. It is published between four and six times a year and features articles on Asian American issues and culture, as well as fashion and beauty. The first issue of the magazine hit newsstands in March 2003. The magazine was named after the...

, and Hyphen Magazine

Hyphen (magazine)

Hyphen is an American magazine, produced three times a year by a volunteer staff; it is a not-for-profit organization. It was founded in 2002 by a group of San Francisco Bay Area journalists, activists, and artists including Melissa Hung, a former reporter for the Houston Press and East Bay...

. It was also was featured on Vimeo

Vimeo

Vimeo is a video-sharing website on which users can upload, share, and view videos. It was founded by Zach Klein and Jake Lodwick in November 2004...

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