A video crew on your site is another employer on your site. They walk where your workers walk, near the same equipment and under the same loads. If something goes wrong, the questions land on you, not on the person holding the camera.
That is not a reason to keep cameras off the job. Your crew’s best work happens out there, and that is the footage that wins the next bid. It is a reason to ask six questions before anyone shows up. Here they are, in the order we answer them for every contractor we film for.
What should a contractor require from a film crew before the shoot?
Require five documents and one conversation: a WCB clearance letter, proof of liability insurance, the crew list, the drone details if a drone is flying, a written shot plan, and a site orientation booked with whoever runs safety on that site. Ask for them a week out. A professional crew sends them without being asked.
| Requirement | Who provides it | When | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| WCB-Alberta clearance letter | The video company | Before you hire, and again before you pay | Shows their WCB account is in good standing |
| Certificate of liability insurance | The video company | Before the shoot is booked | Covers damage or injury their crew causes |
| Crew list with names and roles | The video company | 3–5 days out | For sign-in, orientation and site access |
| Drone category, pilot certificate and flight plan | The drone pilot | 5+ days out | Decides whether the flight is legal where your site sits |
| Shot plan and schedule | The video company, approved by you | 3–5 days out | Keeps the crew out of critical-path work |
| Site orientation | Your site supervisor or the prime contractor | On arrival | The crew learns your hazards before they film them |
The rest of this article explains each row.
Why does a film crew need a WCB clearance letter?
Because if the video company is not covered and someone gets hurt, you can end up paying for it. WCB-Alberta advises that “before hiring an individual or company, and before releasing payment, you should get a clearance to make sure they have a WCB account in good standing”, and warns that if you hire a contractor without coverage, “you could be responsible for payment of any outstanding WCB premiums” (WCB-Alberta, When is a clearance needed).
A clearance letter states whether the contractor has coverage through WCB-Alberta “and if their account is in good standing” (WCB-Alberta, Clearance letters). That makes it the single fastest way to separate a business from a guy with a camera. Freelance shooters often have no account at all. Ask for the letter before you book, and pull a fresh one before you release the final payment.
Who is responsible for the crew’s safety on site?
On an Alberta construction site with two or more employers, the prime contractor coordinates safety for everyone on the site, and that includes the video crew. Alberta’s OHS guidance says a prime contractor must be in place at construction and oil and gas work sites “when there are 2 or more employers involved in work”, that the designation must be in writing, and that the prime contractor’s name must be posted at the site. If nobody is designated, the person in control of the site is deemed to be the prime contractor (Government of Alberta, Obligations of work site parties).
In practice, the crew is one more employer you are coordinating. So:
- Tell the prime contractor before the shoot day, not when the crew arrives. If you are not the prime on this job, the GC needs to approve the crew’s access.
- Book the orientation. The crew gets the same site orientation any visitor or trade gets: hazards, muster point, restricted zones, who to report to.
- Assign an escort. One person from your team walks with the crew. It keeps them out of swing radii and drop zones, and it gets you better footage, because your escort knows where the interesting work is happening.
- Hold them to your PPE rules. Whatever your site requires of a visitor, the crew wears. If they turn up without it, they wait in the truck.
We follow the safety plan of the site we are on. Our field notes on filming a concrete pour show what that looks like next to a boom pump.
Do I need a licensed drone pilot to film my job site?
Usually yes. And the licence level depends on where your site is and who is nearby. Under Transport Canada’s rules, a flight only counts as a basic operation if the drone stays more than 30 metres horizontally from any person, flies in uncontrolled airspace, and stays more than 5.6 km from the centre of a certified airport and more than 1.9 km from a heliport (Transport Canada, Basic operations).
An active job site breaks the 30-metre condition almost by definition. Your crew is working under the shot. That makes it an advanced operation, which needs an advanced pilot certificate, a drone with the right safety declaration, and, in controlled airspace, permission from air traffic control through an RPAS Flight Authorization from NAV CANADA (Transport Canada, Advanced operations). If your site is within 5.6 km of the centre of Calgary International Airport, the flight is advanced no matter who is nearby.
Ask the pilot three things: which category this flight falls under, a copy of their pilot certificate, and whether they need a flight authorization for your address. Jared Ho, Storimatic’s founder, holds a Transport Canada advanced RPAS certificate, so for our shoots that conversation takes five minutes. Our guide to aerial progress reporting covers what a regular drone schedule can do for a long build.
How do I keep a shoot from slowing my crew down?
Plan the shoot around your schedule, not the camera’s. A good crew asks what is happening on site that week and builds the shot list around it. They do not ask your foreman to stage things.
The planning call should settle:
- The milestone. A pour, a lift, a frame going up, a handover. Pick the one that tells your customer’s story best.
- The window. Exactly when that work happens, and how long the crew can be near it.
- The no-go list. Zones, equipment and tasks the crew must stay away from. Critical lifts and confined spaces are off limits unless your safety lead says otherwise.
- The people. Who is willing to speak on camera, who is not, and who signs their release. Never put a worker on camera who did not agree to it.
- The interview spot. Somewhere quiet, close to the work, and safe to stand still in for twenty minutes.
On a typical marketing shoot we spend most of the day observing and catching real work, with one or two short interviews. Your crew keeps working. If we need a second take of a moment, we wait for it to happen again rather than ask for a reset. Our site walkthrough video guide shows how we plan a route that keeps people out of the way.
What about privacy and the footage after the shoot?
Agree up front on who reviews the footage before anything is published. A job site shows more than you might want public: a neighbour’s backyard, a client’s unreleased design, a licence plate, a worker doing something your safety manager would rather not see online.
Transport Canada’s privacy guidance tells drone pilots to “take reasonable steps to avoid capturing personal information you don’t need” (Transport Canada, Privacy guidelines for drone users). That is good practice for ground cameras too. Put three lines in the agreement:
- Review rights: you see the cut before it is published, with time to flag anything sensitive.
- Client approval: if the building belongs to your client, get their written OK to show it. Some owners and GCs restrict this in the contract.
- Footage handling: where the raw files live and who can use them after the project ends.
What is a red flag when hiring a construction video crew?
Any crew that cannot produce a WCB clearance and an insurance certificate in a day, or that treats your orientation as optional. Those two answers tell you how they will behave next to your equipment.
Other warning signs:
- Their reel is all weddings and real estate, with no active-site work.
- They plan to “grab a few drone shots” without naming a flight category.
- They want your foreman to repeat tasks for the camera.
- They have no answer for who reviews the footage before it goes live.
You are trusting them with your site, your people and your reputation. The paperwork is the easy part, so the crew that skips it is telling you something.
FAQ
Does a video crew count as a contractor on my site? Yes. They are another employer doing work on the site, which is why Alberta’s prime contractor rules and WCB clearances apply to them like any other trade (alberta.ca).
Can I let a videographer on site without an orientation? Not if your site’s safety program requires orientation for everyone who enters, and it should. Treat the crew exactly as you would a visiting trade.
Do I need the GC’s permission if I am a subcontractor? Yes. The prime contractor coordinates everyone on site. Ask them before you book the crew.
Who needs to sign releases? Anyone identifiable who speaks or is featured, including your own employees. People in the background should be kept unidentifiable or asked first.
How much notice should I give my site team? A week. That leaves time for clearances, orientation booking, drone checks and a shot plan everyone has seen.
Can the drone fly over my workers? Only as an advanced operation, with a drone declared for flights near or over people, flown by a pilot with an advanced certificate (Transport Canada).
Film your site with a crew that already works like a trade
We have produced 150+ videos since 2020, many of them on active Alberta job sites, and we show up with the clearance letter, the insurance certificate and a shot plan built around your schedule. The story we tell is your customer’s: the building they now own, and the crew that built it right.
See our construction video production in Calgary, or book a free 30-minute call with Storimatic Studio or +1 587-215-9103.
