A history in rocks

So, it has been a busy week and I have been collecting up items for my stop motion. I have been painting rocks with all the varying colors of the rainbow...or every ethnicity. I am doing a "History of Rocks" which will conical the control struggle in the United States throughout history.
I don't think animation has given history it's proper due, our history is what gives us such good stories to tell...if fact, history is the best story of all.
My approach is a bit obscure, I will be using rocks and an outline of a city to illustrate the history of the US. I am going to do it in my basement with my Canon Rebel, but have ran into some lighting problems--I cant keep the light the same throughout the whole production...should I just do it at night?
For the audio I will be using a series of ping-pong ball noises on various objects, mixed in to be the back audio. I as also thinking of using other surface noises, like water drops and screeching glass...any other suggestions?

Pixarmation

I saw some documentary on Pixar a couple of summers back--I can't remember it's name--but what it did say was that Pixar was pioneered by some computer geeks. The most notable of said geeks was the distinguished John Lesseter (bio at http://movies.nytimes.com/person/202358/John-Lasseter/biography) who made the award winning short Tin Toy, a precoursor to his later, more popular, Toy Story (1995). That these stories were both about toys is no coincidence, it's the best these computer wizzes could do; they were working with circular, oval type shapes that did not allow very realistic virtual humans.
Speaking of Toy Story, it was so successful that there is another sequal in production--very highly funded and promoted; they even have the entire original cast! I guess there's still mass appeal to the Toy Story franchise.
Since 1995 Pixar's nerdy computer guys were given free reign to create more computerized movies and each one was a bigger success than the one before it. Each movie moved closer and closer to realism and more human like movements and features in the characters. This was due to advancing technology, but also speaks to how they want to look as much like real life as possible. The Incredibles (2004) is the ultimate example of making characters as realistic as animation will allow--the future will only bring even more realistic characters.

South Park=Favorite Show Ever

Last week we watched Wallace and Gromit in the Wrong Trousers (1993, Park). When I was six or seven my Uncle Heath gave me two VHS tapes of Wallace and Gromit; I got the aforementioned Trousers as well as A Grand Day Out (1989). I watched them endlessly, but rarely thought about the animation. Only after so many years and being told to do so did I actually look for fingerprints and individual movements--very cool. Nick Park is a visionary in his field, he was a success on TV. I think it was successful because the characters have depth and feelings which children can relate to, while making it fun with tons of gadgets and clumsy/cheesy jokes (the best type of jokes). My favorite was actually A Grand Day Out--c'mon, the moon is made of cheese...and Wallace is obsessed with getting some...I encourage everybody to watch the rest of the Wallace and Gromit series...http://www.wallaceandgromit.com/...the website is cool yo...
For my paper I am going to write about my favorite show ever...South Park (1997-present, Matt Stone and Trey Parker). According to imdb.com the shows tagline is: "Four boys. One F**ked up town." I started watching this show with my family when I was in third grade; my dad loved it and every week it was a family event to watch these foul mouthed children. Over time, however, South Park has progressed from a show mostly comprised of childish dick and fart jokes to a show which provides large amounts of social commentary--touching on everything from the struggling economy and Facebook use to Guitar Hero and World of Warcraft. Now in their 14th season Matt Stone and Trey Parker's show is one of the most radical and socially critical shows on television. Any episode can be viewed on ComedyCentral.com.

Flat, colorful, two dimensional stop action animation appeals as a creative art in it's humor and range. Stop motion appeals most when it's simple, if a stop motion's storyline gets too complecated the voyeur can't feel and appreciate the animation. As a child I made my own stop motion features, just shorts with army men, monsters, and animals. Our stories were somewhat reminicant of the Mr.Bill series on SNL, focused on the visual appeal of a sort of different reality where everything moves in frame, creating fluidity isn't easy, but one can appreciate it once complete. A stop motion story is like a joke because it's easy to laugh at something so absurd and and unreal, although it can become violent it probably won't be contraversial-it's a type of media that, to me is both entertaining and widely accesable when it stays simple.
This is the reason that stop motion is usually directed at children; it is just captivating to a simple mind, even without elaborately drawn characters. Fantastic Mr. Fox was just recently left theatres and was generally a success, it was a fun, simple childrens flick that depends heavily on the animation styles of stop motion. We can only hope more