Tales of 'Cabbie Chronicles'

Nashauna Drummond, Lifestyle Coordinator

Delphos McDuffus grew up in "the good old days" so many older Jamaicans speak of.

He's a very interesting character. A complex man who says what's on his mind, no holds barred.

But you'll never get to meet him in person or have the opportunity to sit and chat with him. You can, however, follow his hilarious exploits on the authentically Jamaican animated series, Cabbie Chronicles.

By now, most Jamaicans are familiar with the line (said with some amount of strained melody), "Fluffy empress, a love you wid you excess, yeah."

Cabbie Chronicles, which is aired exclusively on FlowonDemand, is the product of the creative minds of Alison Latchman (writer), her husband Anieph Latchman (animator) and Marlo Scott (illustrator).

The team had an idea about three years ago to produce an action miniseries.

However, "there were limitations to the things we wanted to do, so animation was the logical route. We have more freedom to do what we want," said Alison the appointed mouthpiece of the group.

The team sat with Flair inside their tiny office on Old Hope Road, St Andrew. Two of the four walls are covered with illustrations of the episode they are currently working on. The only other pieces of furniture in the room are a file cabinet; a giant Mac computer, with a smaller counterpart, and a few swivel chairs. They don't need much else, their personalities and ideas crowd the room.

A very expensive and time-consuming project, Cabbie Chronicles is definitely a labour of love.

"To see the finished thing and see people react to it," noted Anieph, is his greatest joy. A man of few words, Marlo's face lights up as he relates his satisfaction when he sees his characters come to life. "To go out on the road and hear someone say 'Fluffy empress', that's what it's about."

Dianne Wan recently joined the group and helps with animation, and though everyone has their specific roles, it's definitely a group effort. Alison was quick to point out that the now-famous line was Marlo's creation.

Having worked in creating radio and television commercials, Aneiph and Marlo are both former students of Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, while Alison received her training in performing Arts in London. "Cab drivers experience the different facets of Jamaican culture, so we thought that was the best route," she told Flair.

Won award

In December 2010, the group won a D.E.W. Best Caribbean Animation award at the Animae Caribe New Media and Animation Festival in Trinidad. They note that they were pretty confident about their entry, until they saw the other entrants. But they took the top award and received glowing commendations from world-class animators, which included Oscar nominated animator Bill Plympton, who was part of the judging panel.

It takes four to five weeks to complete a single five-minute episode. Their passion and belief in the project is limitless. For now, the group relies on funding from family and friends. If they need help with illustrating or music, Richard Sven, Peter McDaniel and Troydell Wallace are always willing to help. Their friends also lend their voices to characters in the series, like Noel Reid, who is the voice of Cabbie, and TVJ presenter Micheal Sharpe, who lent his voice to his character in one episode.

"We want to create a top-quality Jamaican show that is authentic, that doesn't sound like a Caribbean character," noted Alison, with Anieph adding, "We are showing that you don't have to look down on your culture, that it can be reflected in a nice way so people can appreciate themselves again."

In making sure the series is an accurate reflection of reality, they sometimes stand in crowded places such as Half-Way Tree, observing the sounds and movement to add to the background of their series. One Sunday, Marlo took to the streets walking from Half-Way Tree to Cross Roads photographing one side of the street, so that when people watch the series, they would be able to identify it.

"We know life is hard in Jamaica, but it's not all bad. We want to show people that just living, there are other things that reflect us. Humans are complicated. We are not all good and we are not all bad, and we want to laugh about it."

nashauna.drummond@gleanerjm.com