Edwin Decena

Last updated
Edwin Decena
Born
Alma mater Rutgers University
OccupationFilm director, editor, music video director
Years active2005–present

Edwin Decena is an American music video and independent film director. [1]

Contents

Edwin first contribution as a filmmaker came directing and editing the reggaeton documentary "Chosen Few: El Documental." [2]

Early life and education

Decena was born in Passaic, New Jersey and is of Dominican descent. [3] He graduated from Passaic High School and studied sociology at Rutgers-Newark. [4] While at Rutgers, he hosted a college radio show where he interviewed several independent hip hop artist that he would eventually direct music video for.

Career

Music Videos

Decena has created a number of music videos for many artists, including Plies featuring T-Pain ("Shawty"), [5] Cupid ("Cupid Shuffle"), Lil Boosie featuring Jeezy ("Better Believe It"), Jaheim ("Never"), Webbie ("I Miss You"), Rich Boy ("Let's Get This Paper"), Saigon featuring Swizz Beatz and Just Blaze ("C'mon Baby"), [6] DG Yola ("Ain't Gon Let Up"), Troy Ave ("Rep For My City"), Governor ("Blood Sweat and Tears"), Anthony Hamilton featuring Musiq Soulchild and Jaheim ("Struggle No More"), Red Cafe featuring Fabolous and Diddy ("Money, Money, Money"), Maino featuring Swizz Beaz ("Million Bucks"), and Slim featuring Yung Joc and Shawty Lo ("So Fly").

Short and Feature Films

In 2006, he co-directed the feature film, Transformations with his childhood friend Javier Molina. The film went on the win an Odyssey Award for best feature film at the 5th Annual H2O International Film Festival. In 2011, Edwin directed 2 part short film series entitled Hunting Shadows starring Rob Morgan, Darlenis Duran, Goya Robles and Tanaya Henry.

Style

Throughout the majority videos in which he collaborated with cinematographer Kitao Sakurai, Decena employed the use of handheld camera which enhanced the immediacy of the visual experience. As a response to declining production budgets, Decena's work focused on realism, cinematic aesthetic, and an attempt honest characterizations of his subjects as opposed to hype realistic and flashy imagery.

Filmography

YearTitleTypeRole
2004"Chosen Few: El Documental"DocumentaryChief Editor [7]
2006"Transformations"Feature FilmDirector
2006"Chosen Few II: El Documental"DocumentaryDirector
2010"Aardvark"Feature FilmAssistant Director [8]
2011"Hunting Shadows"ShortDirector
2012Murdaland PrinceShortDirector

See also

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References

  1. Toussaint, Jimmy. "A Leader is Born". blackstreetonline.com. Black Street. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
  2. "Chosen Few: El Documental". allmusic.com. AllMusic. Retrieved 14 November 2006.
  3. "About Edwin Decena". edwindecena.com. Archived from the original on 2014-09-09. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  4. Decena, Edwin. "Edwin Decena | Bio". edwindecena.com. Edwin Decena. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
  5. Gotlieb, Steve. "Shot: Plies f/T-Pain". videostatic.com. Retrieved 7 May 2007.
  6. Gotlieb, Steve. "Shot: Saigon - Edwin Decena". videostatic.com. Retrieved 10 October 2007.
  7. "Chosen Few: El Documental - IMDb". IMDb.com. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  8. "Aardvark (2010) - IMDb". IMDb.com. Retrieved 8 September 2014.