Over the last three years, HMG Paints, the UK’s largest independent industrial paints manufacturer, have worked tirelessly alongside Aardman Animations to supply them with a range of highly specialised coatings. These were used to paint the puppet-stars of the blockbuster, animated film.
The film follows the escapades of the boundlessly enthusiastic, if somewhat less-than-successful Pirate Captain’s attempts to beat his bitter rivals, Black Bellamy and Cutlass Liz to the much coveted Pirate of the Year Award. Along the way, the Pirate Captain and his rag-tag crew do battle with the pirate-hating Queen Victoria and team up with a young Charles Darwin, but never lose sight of what a pirate loves best: adventure! The characters voices are provided by an all-star cast featuring Hugh Grant, David Tennant, Imelda Staunton, Martin Freeman, Jeremy Piven and other members of Hollywood’s elite.
Production for the film began in 2007 and HMG Paints were involved at a very early stage in the project supplying the necessary coatings for the puppets. A crew of 525 people worked on the film, including 70 model makers that used HMG Paints’ products to bring colour and life to the 250 puppets created.
The coatings supplied by HMG were used extensively on the heads and mouths of the puppets. Animators use a vast number of mouths during filming, which are interchanged to create speech between characters. These mouths complete with teeth and tongue, are computer generated and printed on resin via a Rapid 3D Prototyping printer. The mouths are then manipulated and pre-posed in a number of expressions before being masked and painted.
In order to meet these very specific and demanding requirements, HMG Paints put together a product offering that would provide the necessary flexibility, durability, and vibrant colour. HMG’s 1K Vinyl Acrylic, PVC94, was ideal for this usage as its exceptional flexibility and adhesion allow for quick and easy application to plastic substrates. Their LMP water based acrylic system was also supplied for its excellent adhesion properties and as an alternative to the solvent based paints on offer.
“HMG have been consistently reliable on orders and provided quality products” says Ruth Mitchell, Paint Supervisor for ‘The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists’. “I have been extremely pleased with their level of service and found them very accommodating with our specialist requirements of paint, including a good quality colour matching service. We have formed a great working relationship during the course of ‘The Pirates! – In an Adventure with Scientists’ feature production. I would absolutely recommend HMG and look forward to working with them in the future.”
HMG Paints has always believed that it is essential to build long and mutually beneficial relationships with customers. Technical Sales Representative, Alan Bradwell, worked closely with Aardman Animations on this project and recognises the benefits of establishing strong relationships with customers. “Due to Aardman Animations’ very specific requirements, it was important that we tailored our services and product offering to meet the needs of the customer. With our quick response technical support team, extensive product portfolio, and vast colour library housing over 150,000 colours, we are able to provide a flexible and unique service to every customer”.
The high quality products and bespoke service offered by HMG Paints has attracted the attention of a number of Hollywood’s elites and their products are currently being used on several other movie sets across the world.
To celebrate the DVD release of ‘The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists’ and the successful partnership between HMG Paints and Aardman Animations, HMG Paints are giving away three DVD’s of the film. Follow HMG Paints on Facebook (facebook.com/HMGpaints) and Twitter (twitter.com/HMGpaints) , or visit Win A DVD Page for more details on how to win.