Music Video Production in Calgary
Concept to final cut for bands and artists. The work this crew was built on, made by people from the same scene.
Music video production in Calgary is where ShortWave started and it’s still the centre of the practice. We’re a four-person crew of directors, a cinematographer, writers, and an editor. We’ve spent enough time as the band on the other side of the camera to know what a video has to do. It has to feel like the song, and it has to carry a whole release cycle.
We make performance videos, narrative pieces, and the hybrid things in between. Currently in production: two videos for Tori Morley / Phreqed and one for Celogen. Both Calgary artists, both built the same way.
From song to treatment
Every project starts with the track. We listen before we pitch, and the directions we bring back are built on what the song is doing. When a direction sticks, it becomes a treatment with references, locations, a shot plan, and a straight answer on what the budget buys. We design ideas that hold up at the scale you can actually afford.
Writing and directing live inside the crew, so concept development isn’t a separate line item with a separate agency attached. It’s the same people who will be on set, which is why the finished video tends to look like the treatment.
Shooting in Calgary
Calgary gives us prairie light, concrete, neon, and big skies within driving distance of mountain passes. We scout to the concept, handle the logistics and permissions a location needs, and run set days tight enough that performance takes don’t die of exhaustion at hour eleven.
After the shoot, the edit, grade, and sound polish happen in-house with the same people who planned the concept. Cuts go out for review as they happen. Delivery includes the master plus vertical cutdowns for Reels, TikTok, and Shorts, each one chosen deliberately.
One crew for the whole release
A video can leave you with a whole release kit: stills from set for press and cover art, motion assets for the single announcement, and a plan for the social clips between now and release day. Made on one set, that costs less than three separate bookings.
Related Work
View All Work
Common Questions
- How much does a music video cost in Calgary?
- Our music videos typically run from $2,000 for a single-location performance video to $8,000+ for multi-location narrative concepts with art direction. We design the idea to the number, and we'll say plainly what a budget can and can't buy.
- We have no concept, just a song. Is that a problem?
- That's the normal starting point. Send the track. We listen, come back with two or three directions, and develop the one that fits. Writers and directors are part of the crew.
- How long does a music video take?
- From first call to delivered video is usually four to eight weeks. Concept and planning take two to three, the shoot is one or two days, and the edit and grade fill the rest. Release-date deadlines are fine if we build the schedule around them from the start.
- Who owns the video when it's done?
- You do. We deliver the master file plus platform versions, and we keep project files on hand so re-exports are usually a quick ask rather than a rebuild. Keep your own copy of the masters too. We back things up, but a release shouldn't depend on our hard drives.
Based in Calgary, working across Airdrie , Cochrane , Okotoks , Canmore , Banff . Also see live session videos and photography .