LOS ANGELES ? They call themselves Pixnoys ? Pinoys who work at the Pixar Animation Studios.

Ricky Nierva and Ronnie Del Carmen, sitting together at the cafeteria in the great, airy atrium of Pixar in Emeryville, California, remembered the wrap party of ?Ratatouille? where the Pixnoys ?and there?s quite a number of them ? decided to come in their barong Tagalog.

Ricky e-mailed a photo of the Pixnoys from that party which appears in this column.

On this afternoon, we chatted with Ricky and Ronnie as production designer and story supervisor, respectively, of ?Up,? which is hailed as one of the year?s best films. Don?t miss it, bring the whole family.

Old-timer

Ricky, born in the United States to Filipino parents from Camarines Sur, has been with Pixar the longest at 11 years. A graduate of the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in Valencia, California, Ricky worked on ?Monsters Inc.,? ?Toy Story 2? and ?Finding Nemo.? As production designer of ?Up,? his responsibility was to ?uphold the vision of co-director Pete Docter.?

Ricky added that he had to come up with ideas for the look, design, lighting and other visual elements of the film, and work with a team that included sculptors and layout artists.

In separate chats with Pete, producer Jonas Rivera and Pixar top exec John Lasseter, they repeatedly brought up the contributions of Ricky and Ronnie to ?Up.?

Asked about the look of the film which opened Cannes last May, Pete replied: ?We tried intentionally to get away from such a realistic look and to go for more character. Bob Peterson, co-writer and co-director, and I felt that since it?s about a house that flies up in the sky, there needs to be a little bit of sense of caricature because I don?t think you?d believe it otherwise.

?You need to create a world where that seems possible and believable. Plus, it?s just the way my aesthetic works. Ricky Nierva, production designer, really pushed into that direction as well. I always feel that if you want live action, go get live actors. Let?s play to the strengths of what animation does which is this great sense of simplification and caricature.?

On the look of Carl, the film?s 78-year-old main character who goes on a great adventure when he ties thousands of balloons to his house, Pete said: ?We pulled a lot of influences from our grandparents, like my grandfather had the same shock of white hair as Carl?s. A bunch of real life actors that we pulled from as well ?Spencer Tracy, Walter Matthau and James Whitmore ? but mostly, it just came from Ricky and Daniel (Lopez Muñoz).

Amazing artist

?Ricky is this amazing caricature artist. He can do these really bitingly accurate caricatures of you once he gets to know you. He approaches design the same way that he really wants to know and internalize the characters and then he draws who he feels those characters are. It?s almost like a casting director ? only we?re creating the actors, instead of finding them.?

Ronnie, born and raised in Cavite, explained his responsibilities as story supervisor: ?I lead a team of story artists. We tell and dramatize the story from beginning to end. We do it with story boards and story reels so it becomes an emotional, authentic experience. If you laugh or cry while watching the movie, it?s our fault.?

The University of Santo Tomas alumnus stressed that he and Ricky were Pete?s ?lieutenants? who made sure they championed his vision. It?s the first film from Pixar where two key talents are Pinoys ? a five-year collaboration since ?Up? was started in 2004.

The two proudly rattled off the names of their fellow Pixnoys. They cited Nelson Bohol as the one who came up with the ?bahay kubo? as the home of Nemo in the dentist?s office aquarium in ?Finding Nemo.? The Pixnoys? touch is also reflected in the miniature volcano inside the aquarium which was inspired by Mayon Volcano.

Would they dream of directing a Pixar film someday? ?Heck, no,? Ronnie cracked. ?We do, of course. If one of us is lucky enough to direct a movie someday, it?s because Pixar thinks the story and time are right. Hopefully that will happen.?

E-mail the columnist at rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com and read his blog, ?The Nepales Report,? on http://blogs.inquirer.net/nepalesreport.