The Pirates! pirate ship sails into M Shed

It is impossible to have a proper film about pirates without having a proper pirate ship, and The Pirates! In an Adventure With Scientists is no exception. “By taking our beautiful, solid, puppet-animated pirate boat and setting it in a CG sea, we’ve put it where it can rock and roll and slosh around, and it has the greatest freedom, sense of space, and energy, and it just looks beautiful,” says Pirates! director Peter Lord.

Here is the ship in all its glory, as the Pirate Captain prepares to board a rival vessel:

From today, the ship is on display in the foyer at M Shed, having been kept previously in Aardman’s own foyer. These exclusive photographs show the construction of the ship by the team at Cod Steaks, a Bristol model making company based in Cole Road in St Phillip’s, who made the ship and all the sets in the film.

Mike Applebee, Senior Set Construction Manager, said: “The pirate ship was constructed in a similar way to a real boat, but with birch ply ‘frames’ and jelutong planking instead of oak.  Once fully constructed, we aged and distressed the ship – applying an artwork finish to give it a real sense of nautical history.

“The ship splits into 10 sections, to enable animators to access all decks during close up shots.  This was a challenge in terms of construction, as the joins had to be seamless.

“By the time the ship was completed it weighed over half a tonne and was 15ft from bowsprit to stern, and 15ft from hull to main mast. It took our diligent team of seven people approximately six weeks to complete the workshop build.  However, many more weeks were spent in the studio where additional dressing (such as rigging, chains, ironmongery) was added to bring the whole ship together to the magnificent form it is now.”

Sue Lipscombe, MD of Cod Steaks, said: “It’s great to hear that the public will have a chance to view our work so close up.  We pride ourselves on our attention to detail and hope visitors will enjoy and appreciate the level of craftsmanship that goes into set building and model making for films such as Pirates!

“The ship was a particularly challenging set to build out of the many that we built for the film, so finally seeing the ship fully working within the sea at the cinema was hugely satisfying for us all.”

For more information, visit www.codsteaks.com.