Our story starts in May 2013 out of a 200 square foot living room in Brooklyn. Visual Country was born out of sheer curiosity. We built our production company through tireless nights exploring new mediums, and art and putting everything we had into each opportunity that came our way. Before 2013 when we founded Visual Country, Meagan and I had never shot any stop-motion before. Meagan had been a photographer for almost a decade, shooting fashion photography and portraiture, but was looking for a change in her career. In search of inspiration she traveled to Europe, exploring galleries, meeting German Pop Stars, and looking for answers on her next move. She came back from that trip convinced she would become a personal trainer. That is until Vine came out, and we both downloaded it and started playing around with six second videos while on vacation in Hawaii. That was when everything changed. The whole process and medium was entirely new. Meagan spent days and nights creating cute stop motion videos, releasing at least one a day to her growing follower base. When we signed our first client, we researched, and experimented as we went and hired really talented people that in many ways knew more about what we were doing than we did. We had a vision and a specific aesthetic, but learned all the skills we needed along the way. We were the definition of fake it until you make it. When we started, we shot everything on iPhones with about seven of them going at a time. We couldn’t upload videos, save videos or even review footage along the way – it was a far cry from where we are today. Within the first year, we started purchasing and transitioning to professional equipment and have since invested over $275,000 in cameras, laser cutters, dye cutters, lights and other photography equipment to bring our clients best in class work. I left eBay to run Visual Country full-time. It wasn’t even a scary transition. At that point we knew we had grown something special. Over the last five years our team has traveled to Hong Kong, Bali, London, Jamaica and across the USA to shoot with notable clients. We’ve worked with Starbucks, Google, Vogue, Perrier and Neutrogena, to name a few. We have collaborated with over 270 brands since our first campaign. We have had the pleasure of working with some of the most talented people in the industry, from animators, photographers, directors, illustrators, models, editors, stylist, and all the other types of creative that go into the work we produce. Over the last give years we have provided jobs to over 315 contractors and employees within this time, 53% of them being women – that’s 166 women. Meagan and I started the business with our own money, and have continued to reinvest back into the business year after year. We are proud to be 100% woman owned, with zero outside funding. Being a business owner has it’s ups and downs, and comes with a good amount of stress, but we are grateful for all that it has provided us. We have kept the business a certain size over the years, to focus on a balanced worked environment and a strong focus on great work. It is always nice to be recognized by our peers in the industry. Over the last five years, we have won over 27 major advertising and film awards for our work, including a Cannes Lion, 4A’s O’Toole Award, and Art Directors Award. It has been a serious trip these last five years, and we are excited to see what more the future brings! Thanks for being apart of this amazing time and we can’t wait to see what comes next.
