Introducing Carousel: A new way to create beautiful video at scale

In a landscape where “more content” often means “more AI,” it’s refreshing to find a solution that allows us to produce more work without losing the craft.

Before sharing the videos we’ve created, I wanted to show our clients how this studio approach works rather than simply talk about it. As Creative Director at Creative Listening, the best way to explain the idea was to make something with it.

Starting with good ingredients

To bring the idea to life, I knew we needed a few essential ingredients:

• An appealing, colourful aesthetic

• A great set designer who could help build a house within our studio

• A talented cinematographer

• And, of course, a child and a parent
  

Naturally, I called in a few favours.

I worked with my friend Adelaide, an experienced art director and stylist who usually works across commercial and editorial shoots. Behind the camera was the brilliant Jimi Drosinos, a cinematographer and photographer with a fantastic eye for light and composition.

For the cast, I kept things close to home. My middle son Marlo stepped in alongside his mum, my wife Gee.

With that, the stage was set for a little magic.

Building a whole world inside one studio

The outcome was everything I’d hoped for. The videos tell a simple story, but they also create a visual mood that feels emotive and evocative.

When our sound designer Max later treated the audio, he said something that really stuck with me. Even though he works in this studio all the time, he hadn’t realised that every “room” in the videos had been created inside the same space.

He couldn’t believe we’d built all of that in one studio.

These small moments on screen demonstrate the power of working within a single environment. With thoughtful design, colour and lighting, one space can transform into many different worlds.

One of our set designs for the Carousel launch campaign.

A process that stays creative

The process itself was collaborative, sometimes spontaneous, but always intuitive.

And honestly, it gave me a little hope.

Anyone who works in education knows how hard it can be to keep projects feeling creative. We often start with the best intentions, but budgets tighten, timelines shrink and the pressure to do more with less creeps in.

Scopes get reduced. Every pound is scrutinised. Off-the-shelf solutions start to look like the most practical option.

Sometimes the goal simply becomes getting something over the line.

When creativity survives the pressure

So when a method  withstands those pressures and still feels thoughtful, well crafted and genuinely creative, it’s worth celebrating.

That’s where Carousel by Creative Listening comes in.

It’s our new studio production approach, designed to create high-quality video content at scale while keeping creativity firmly at the centre.

See Carousel in action

If you’d like to make something that feels special again, let’s talk.

Book a call with me and I’ll walk you through how this whole beautiful thing works.

You can also watch more videos and further explore the Carousel approach at creativelistening.co.uk/carousel.