Killer Whale

ClientJaggi Entertainment ProjectKey Art

case study

When Jaggi Entertainment approached Carnival Studio to develop key art for Killer Whale, the film was in pre-production and would be shot on blue screen, with a very heavy CGI component. We were tasked with creating theatrical key art for the survival-horror feature, starring rising talent Virginia Gardner and Mel Jarnson – positioned somewhere between The Shallows and a revenge thriller, with an underlying ecological message.

The Challenge

Creature-driven genre films can easily lean into B-grade tropes. This needed to feel cinematic, elevated, and emotionally grounded. We were building the film’s public face before the final film existed.

1. Positioning Before Pixels

Before developing visuals, we worked with filmmakers to clarify:

Is this a monster movie, or a revenge story?
Are audiences meant to fear Ceto, or empathise with her?
Who is the primary theatrical audience?

The positioning became clear:

Two aspirational, heroic female leads.
A brutal survival story.
A conservation subtext – Ceto is not evil, but shaped by human cruelty.

With alignment locked, we moved to concept.

2. Concepting with Intention

Our concepts focused on:

Low waterline POVs to immerse the audience in danger
Bent dorsal fin as a symbolic nod to the conservation/eco message
Tropical beauty offsetting escalating horror
Talent framed as strong, connected, and resilient

The goal: implied menace, not spectacle-for-spectacle.

We consciously avoided classic cross-section shark tropes that often feel artificial or cheap.

3. Shoot Strategy: Controlling the Uncontrollable

The actors were shot in a studio, perched on a styrofoam rock.

Which means:

Lighting had to simulate high Thai daylight
Expressions needed to feel authentic without a creature present
Composition had to allow for believable CG integration

Because we had already locked camera angle, threat direction, and tonal intention during concept, the shoot became execution – not experimentation.

4. From Concept to Finish

Our early visual strategy guided:

Actor performance
Photographer direction
CG integration
Finishing realism
Tonal colour grading

By the time Ceto was composited into frame, the emotional architecture was already built.

The result is key art that feels cinematic, tense, and theatrical, while preserving the film’s ecological subtext.

KillerWhale-Single-Portrait — Final Key Art

When you build intention early, the final artwork doesn’t feel assembled – it feels inevitable.

Get in touch to see how we can bring your story to life.

A huge shout-out to our creative team, without whom this would not have been possible

Art Direction / Design: Demi Hopkins
Concept Illustration: Heather Lenefsky
Finishing: Travis Armstrong
Photography: David Fell
Studio: Safa Studio, Brisbane
Client: Chloe Alford, Kylie Pascoe – Jaggi Entertainment