Have you ever wanted to jump into an experience of pure nature, freedom and cultural appreciation? Something Deadly is an Indigenous-focused adventure video series that explores Traditional names, cultures of the land and life off the beaten track. If you thought you wanted to experience it all before, this series will have you hooked and ready to go.
Created by award-winning filmmaker Jahvis Loveday, Something Deadly follows Jahvis and his friends on a wide range of adventures and cultural appreciation beginning with a trip to Far North QLD and the Great Barrier Reef, presented in weekly episodes via YouTube. Episode one premiered in July 2021 following the team up north in a series of episodes each around 12-20 minutes long.
Being born from Djiru country, Jahvis explores his own traditional heritage before receiving permission from his elders to travel to the island called the family group in the Great
Barrier Reef.
“I talk about what country we are on, how I am connected to this land, what we learn on the land and showcase what the place has to offer,” Jahvis said.
“What we wanted to do with something deadly is to create a community and cultural hub to preserve aboriginal culture and place names along with the whole way of living life. What we want people to take away from the videos and watching us work is that you can just learn by doing yourself and through experience. You can sit in a room and be talked to, or you can get out there and experience it for yourself.
“We want to show what’s important – family, community and being able to harmoniously work together.”
Even though this adventure is finished, Something Deadly is continuing to release videos on behind-the-scenes footage, crew documentaries, catching fish and cooking with family. Something Deadly has also received funding from Create NSW towards a new film, Bangay Lore.
Something Deadly was the recipient of a Quick Response Grant in 2021 which was used towards a software subscription and to develop a brand identity.
“Getting access to the Adobe Suite through the grant really helped. It costs around $80-$90 a month and as a 20-year-old I don’t really have a lot of money to throw away each month,” Jahvis explained.
“It gave me the opportunity to just put my head down and edit everything the way it’s meant to be edited professionally.
“We also used the funding to create the Something Deadly brand identity, starting with a logo. I got my close friends Lorien Davis and Gracie Austin from RedHot designs to do that for me and they just nailed it. I felt great about being able to support them and they wanted to do a really good job because they were getting paid.”
They knew they wanted to incorporate the aboriginal flag colours into the logo as well as make it central and connecting. After a few variations, they decided on two arms on top of each other in the “Shakka” position. The two arms represent the ‘community in arms’ always together.
“The band of yellow represents the radiating love that holds our communities together. The band of yellow also represents the sun, our sun, we all live under it and share its warmth every single day,” Jahvis elaborated.
Over the past two years, Jahvis has completed his Bachelor of Film at SAE Creative Media Institute and has won several awards for his Short Films ‘Home’ and ‘Bama’ including the Best Young Australian Filmmaker of the Year Award at the Byron Bay International Film Festival. He has also the Jury and Audience Awards at Flickfest’s Academy All Shorts.
Check out the entire Something Deadly catalogue here!