Toronto BAsed Film MAker - Russ De Jong
Thanks for visiting russdejong.com! As you will see when you go through the various pages, Russ has a VERY well rounded knowledge base that spans many positions within the film industry. Primarily he is a Director of Photography, but as his career progressed he branched out into other positions to help fulfill his overall goal of being the best possible filmmaker that he could. Each supplementary skill directly relates back to making him a well-versed Director of Photography. That being said, Russ frequently still does the individual roles and is more then happy to entertain ANY of the mentioned skills you'll find here.
#russDOPframegrab is a great place to see a quick
snapshot of the QUALITY, QUANTITY, and CONSISTENCY of his work.
In 2018 Russ started producing projects. After seeing the areas for improvement while working on sets Russ has started
to put his practical knowledge to work starting a full service production company North Film Co. Growing substantially
every year with a wealth of resources and a unique business model, North Film Co. is a great option for those
interested in everything Russ has available. Click here to jump over to North Film Co. for more information.
BiogrAphy
Russ De Jong has been working steadily in the television
and film industry for over 15 years and has climbed to an
acclaimed spot in the Canadian and international film industry.
With a background in competitive team sports, extreme
sports and stunts, Russ transitioned his athleticism into film. Russ started making videos for various sporting events, which lead to a job as a cameraman for live sports and eventually various news stations such as CTV, Global and The Weather Network. After graduating from Mohawk College for Television Broadcasting Russ worked for a production company shooting and editing two nationally aired television shows
that delivered a new show every week. This high pace demand, paired with live television taught Russ the skills for quality work under tight deadlines and extreme pressure.
In his spare time Russ opened his first successful retail business at the age of 16 with worldwide distribution for
large companies such as Solomon & Adidas. His knowledge
of construction lead him to complete a childhood dream of
purchasing land and building his own house from scratch,
at the ripe age of 19. As his success in his side businesses
and film career grew he funnelled resources into equipment and specialized training to really increase his hold in the film
industry. After a long run in the television industry as a cameraman, technical director/switcher and editor, Russ decided to step away from television and focus solely on
the film industry and his work as a Director of Photography. Countless feature films, commercials and music videos later, Russ had found his place and decided to further invest down that road. He added Steadicam Operator to his list of skills after looking to fulfill his love of extreme sports and was up and running with 70lbs strapped to his body like a natural.
Over 15 years later Russ has countless credits, acquired an equipment list of well over one million dollars,
and worked on large sets with A-list actors and budgets
north of fifty million dollars!
- Russ De Jong