The Gear
Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price was shot on mini-dv using Panasonic DVX100A cameras. We also used a smattering of archival footage and photographs sent into us by field producers, obtained from news organizations and downloaded from the Internet. The result is a patchwork of powerful storytelling, based not on big budget production values, but rather on the ingenuity of a committed team of filmmakers, volunteers and supporters around the country and around the world.

The Wiki
Collecting and organizing the monumental amount of research, production information, and footage for the Wal-Mart film was no small task. To help organize and streamline production efforts among members of our team, Jim Gilliam implemented a Web-based “wiki” system.

A “wiki” is a type of Internet software that allows users to create and edit Web page content – a sort of collectively managed master repository of knowledge. (A good example of the use of a wiki can be found at the Wikipedia) Any user can create, edit, or improve upon anyone else’s page on the wiki – a reflection of the cooperative, free-spirited, grassroots “open-source” philosophy on which the wiki software was originally created.

For our production, this kind of collaborative, cross-referential structure was especially helpful. Because there were many people working on different aspects of the film, it allowed any of us to update and keep track of the material that we, as a team, had on any particular section of the film at any time.

In the early stages of production, research information about Wal-Mart was organized into a few broad categories; these categories were later re-organized as the body of the film began to take shape, and the actual content of the film began to be broken down into specific areas that we would cover. The wiki also helped with workflow; for example, a researcher would post information on certain pieces of archival footage, which the video researcher would then pick up on and work on obtaining the video from the original source. Later, as an enormous stream of print materials, original and archival footage began to pour into our production office, an index of these assets was also created on the wiki so we could keep track of the massive amounts of material in a relatively sane fashion.

The wiki also allowed us to keep a log of all significant (and insignificant) events related to the project. These are included below for your enjoyment—or at least as a reference to illustrate the power of the wiki and the breakneck speed of our production.

The field producers
One of the most incredible aspects of our production is the overwhelming support and contribution from people all over the country and the world. We have over 850 field producers who have signed up to lend their skills to the Wal-Mart movie. Field producers do a variety of things – shoot video, contribute photos, email friends, hand out flyers, distribute DVDs, etc., and they have made a real contribution to the film. You can get involved too!

Take Tom Boese, from Wisconsin. We needed a wet-down and didn't have the budget to pull it off ourselves (and in Los Angeles you can't count on a summer storm). Tom answered our call to shoot a Wal-Mart parking lot at night after it had rained. He posted hi-resolution photos to our site and his camerawork is featured in a critical section of the film, and on the back cover of the behind-the-scenes book on the making of the film.

Production Timeline