Limkokwing University of Creative Technology has done it again. Its multi-national team won the first Astro Nextgen Contentpreneur award, organised by the Astro All Asia Plc with its entry Lock.

The Team, led by director Reuben Kang from Malaysia, comprised of students from Britain, Indonesia and Kenya. The whole project took about a month to be completed including coming-up with a script, three days of shooting and the rest for editing.

Lock won the Extraordinary Short Content category and was also nominated in Phenomenal Art Direction category. The winners walked away with RM10,000 cash, trophy and a certificate.

The Astro NextGen Contentpreneur award is the first award of its kind award targeted at tertiary students. The main objective is to encourage youths to pursue content excellence in various categories such as shot film, documentary, music video, website and animation.

The entries are judged by a panel of judges including Freddie Fernandez, chief operating officer of Maestro Talent Management Sdn Bhd, editor Akashdeep Singh, film-maker and director of Reel Networks Sdn Bhd, David Moggie, Hunsa Thanomsing, the general manager of Youth Dynamics Astro and Paul Morrison, the co-founder and creative director of WASP Studios Sdn Bhd.

The award, presented by Astro, was in collaboration with the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission and Multimedia Super-Corridor Malaysia.

Lock’s storyline focuses on the human character where they are taught that everything is black or white – Good and Evil. Lock is a short video questioning the ulterior motivates of individuals.

Set in Putrajaya, the story focuses on an obnoxious British businessman, John Smith, who loses his car outside his office. Following this episode, the film focuses on intertwined characters including Boy (the car thief), Janice Lee (an insurance agent dealing with Mr Smith’s claim) and Boss (who runs the auto-theft syndicate). Many of them switch between being good and bad.

First time director Reuben Kang, was surprised but elated to see his last project as a student at Limkokwing grabbing the top award for Extraordinary Short Content. Besides directing, he also wrote the script.

After lecturers Mitchell Liong and Faizul Mohd Noh reviewed the script, production and shooting followed. Reuben teamed up with Gitungo James Waiganjo from Kenya as soundman and Indonesian, Taufan Ericsson to shoot the film, with actors and actresses from Malaysia, Britain and China.

“It is a worthwhile passion to submit this entry, and to win it is truly amazing,” Reuben said. “Previously, I was only involved in projects to finish my assignments but with this final project, I learnt a whole lot more as I was involved from the start.

Gitungo from Kenya said it was good exposure as they practiced what they learnt from classes into the project.

Johnson Tan from Malaysia, who was assistant director, said the short film had a strong script and photography, which makes completing the project easier.

The costs for the project, which were borne by Limkokwing, came to RM1,500.

Liong said the Faculty of Communication, Multimedia and Broadcasting was behind the whole project, which shows that the university is producing award winners.

He said this shows the success of the university’s “Indusity” programme. Indusity, a term coined by the university, means merging the best of the university with the industry to produce the right talents.

Giving students practical on the job training would help produce graduates who meet industry needs. Furthermore, it also provides the necessary experience to gain easy employment.