Thriller | 9 mins

Student Assessment | Year 11, 2023

Dawn (2023) is a thriller short film that experiments with CGI and explores the themes of loneliness and moral dilemma, specifically utilitarianism.

This film is set in a near-future time (2036), in which the government has enforced a law that requires the public to carry a personal data-holding chip surgically implanted within one’s arm. We follow the protagonist, Aaron, who works for a government policing force called the Civil-Threat Response Unit. This unit was formed to minimise civilian rebellion. Aaron’s job is to arrest civilians under suspicion of being involved in an underground terrorist plot against government bodies. In the first scene of the film, Aaron’s boss, Calloway, gives him the task of spying on the owner of a bar downtown, Reuben Murphy, who they suspect to be involved in this plot. Like the other agents in the agency, Aaron is a lone wolf, reviled by most members of the public because of their job. This, however, changes when he meets a waitress named Mia at Reuben’s bar.

• Australia Independent Film Festival (AIFF) | 2023 'SEQ Future Stars' Finalist & Film Poster Winner

• Bond University Film & Television Awards (BUFTA) | 2023 Finalist (Top 45)

• Sparrowland Short Film Festival | 2024 High School Category Official Selection