favoite dio format and what makes a good dio?

[lehsreh]

[COLOR=Red]just wondering how some of you like to see your dios. either the comic book creator or the way general joe and the inner santum do theirs, or any other way. also i thought we could discuss what we believe makes a good dio. just something i thought i would throw out there, it seems that there hasnt been much forum discussion lately[/COLOR]

[ender098]

I personally like the way ViolentFx does his, but unfortunately, as of this time, I don't have a website to lay my dio out picture by picture. I tried that once with my very First Dio "Fallout" ( www.geocities.com/ender098/FALLOUT1.HTM ) but Geocities doesn't provide you with the bandwidth to show a dio in all it's glory, so I switched to Comic Book Creator to make my dios in a "portable" .PDF format, at least until I can afford some webspace out there!!

What do I think makes a good dio? hmmmmmm.....

First off, attention to detail. No one is perfect, but standing up a bunch of figures in your back yard and just having them shoot at each other is weak. If you're gonna make buildings and don't have doll houses, paint cardboard boxes and take a torch or something to them to make them look ruined. A perfect example is my sewer pic. I could have just stuck my Riddick figure in a cardboard tube and shined a flashlight in on him and took the pic. But I painted the tube, installed lights and made fake water to make it more realistic. I know a lot of people don't have the resources or money to invest to make hollywood quality models but how much is a can of gray primer paint? $.97 at WalMart. Just try a little harder to get some realism. (And if you're out of ideas, ask someone! I've helped a lot of people on this site make better dios and I have accepted a lot of advice and input to make my dios look better!) I think realism is the first thing I'm looking for! And don't get your wheelbarrow or SUV in the pics, please! Nothing irks me like reading a REALLY GREAT dio and right when all hell breaks loose, seeing your SUV or neighbor's house in the background. (take a lot of shots from different angles and use the BEST shots.)

Secondly, you need a PLOT! You need a FOME as we say in the Marines. (Focus of Main Effort) What are they doing and why? For example, my first dio (Fallout) started out with a bunch of Iron Grenadiers stealing a nuke from a former Soviet Republic. Later you find out they are NOT IRON GRENADIERS but Vipers lead by Zartan framing Destro for the theft. Why? Well, if I ever get around to finishing the story...you'll see! Why was Chris trying to become a BlueShirt? To impress his dad because he was a selfish, theiving jerk. Why is Cobra after Riddick? You get the Idea! A plot is more than GI Joe and Cobra meeting in the Jungle, yelling "YO Joe!" and "Cobra!!!" respectively and shooting!

Thirdly, Character development. If all your characters can say or do is yell "Yo Joe" and give SitReps and Frag Orders during your dio, hell, take out the Joes and use generic PTE action figures. PTE figures look like they have ZERO personality, so they will fit right in! Don't get me wrong, you need action to keep from boring the audience, but balance it with character interaction and inner conflict. I see so many dios that are one sided this way. Either 100% action with no focus, or a drama that need to be in "The Young and the Restless" and not in a GI Joe dio Story!

Now, some dios are in chapters, so it's ok to keep one Chapter all action and one drama. But if you're ENTIRE story is unbalanced, no one will read it. I'm not the greatest at following my own rules, either...it's hard, but that's what I look for in a Dio! And that's what I TRY to make with my Dios!

Just my $.02...


;)

[lehsreh]

[COLOR=Red]i agree with a lot of what you are saying. ive read my share (or not read as i just skim them) dios that are nothing but gunfire. these are boring as there really just pic and not dios to me. a dio tells a story, not show cannon fodder.

one thing i think makes a great dio is characters. by this i do not mean a lot of them, just by which ones. ive saw dios where only the newest dios are used. this is cool and all, but for some people who havent bought many new joes or have been out of the joeverse for awhile, their left wondering " who the bloody blue smurf are these characters". dont get me wrong it can still be a great story. but if you have all new characters who have never saw movie, tv or comicbook time and no recognizable joes then speaking for myself, i have no one to relate to. at least throw in a beach head, letherneck, shipwreck or hawk in there somewhere.

as for the format i like, it would have to be gen. joes. i like the top to bottom order and the cobra and joe patterns on the side, but i understand that this takes more time. for me the comic book creator get s to be too unreadable sometimes. it all gets into one big cluster and its hard to tell the chronological order [/COLOR]

[phu]

I definitely agree on the detail... it's awesome to see a really well-made set (or even a simple one with one or two ingenuitive effects at work) that works well with the figures in it.

I have a hard time with the fact that I believe 99% of good stories are character-driven, yet I know virtually nothing about the Joes' actual personalities... so a lot of what I do ends up being tongue-in-cheek stock and foil rather than using their in-depth personalities.

I could definitely read a whole dio that didn't have one panel of gunfire... a well-shot series of images with some tense moments and great visuals (and/or solid dialogue) would be a great read. Not that dios shouldn't have that kind of action, I just don't think it's entirely necessary; a whole dio about a hairy recon mission where the enemy never actually finds the patrol could definitely be decent if it were done well. :)

[ender098]

[QUOTE=lehsreh]

as for the format i like, it would have to be gen. joes. i like the top to bottom order and the cobra and joe patterns on the side, but i understand that this takes more time. for me the comic book creator get s to be too unreadable sometimes. it all gets into one big cluster and its hard to tell the chronological order

[/QUOTE]

Actually if you are even vaguely versed with HTML (or have Microsoft Front Page), his format is easier than Comic Book Creators. The only problem with it is, you have to have a website to post your webpages on and that will allow you the bandwidth to let people come see you dios. And as I said, Geocities just isn't that place! LOL! And if someone can't log into your website (if they are blocked by a firewall) then you have no way of giving it to them unless you zip up the whole site on CD and mail it to them.

I hope to soon have an Archive site for Dios, but finding the right plan (proper size storage, right amount of bandwidth, etc) is proving harder than I thought. At least finding one that will work and not make me spend my kids college fund to do it!

[Sonneilon]

I've been thinking on this one for awhile. There are soooooo many things and a few years ago, I talked to TG about what I need to see in terms of pictures and dios.

I'm a very visual person. If the fotos are poorly shot (ie; unfocused), I won't even view it. I can handle slightly gritty but I'm under the school of thought that you can have the best shot ever, but if it turns out like crap, it's over. My 1st dios were utter crap (not to mention a 2.0 megapixel camera) and Lehsreh can probably attest.

I'm pretty ok w/ different formats. I like the CBC look if done well. But I also really like Justin's style where it's just shots down a page.

Character use is iffy with me. If you can take chars I care nothing about and make a good story, I'm game. I'm not a fan of the Renegades, Slaughter or a lot of other stuff, yet I end up reading Justin's dios anyway! (lol) I agree w/ Frank. There's a reason why I use a small cast. I want the reader to get to know the characters and feel what they feel. Some people prefer to throw a huge melee w/ 100s of figures and well, it just cheapens it for me.

Sets. A lot of the regulars here have really gone all out. The sets are just more than boxes and vhs tapes ;) In a way, I'm feeling I need to step up my sets too! But as Phu said, simplistic can work wonders too!

Thing is, a lot of this stuff that makes a good dio also makes good 1-shots. 1-shots are practice, y'know? If you can't take a decent 1-shot or a short sequence, what's gonna happen in a dio??? I just want to be the Paul K Anderson of dios! Not James Cameron. Not George Lucas. Not Clint Eastwood, Penny Marshall, Steven Speilburg, etc. :D

[ender098]

[QUOTE=Sonneilon]


The sets are just more than (boxes and) vhs tapes ;)

[/QUOTE]


Someone used VHS tapes? Say it ain't so!! :eek:

[phu]

[QUOTE=ender098]I hope to soon have an Archive site for Dios, but finding the right plan (proper size storage, right amount of bandwidth, etc) is proving harder than I thought. At least finding one that will work and not make me spend my kids college fund to do it![/QUOTE]

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[ender098]

[SIZE=7]BUMP!!![/SIZE]

This is a Great thread and I would think everyone would wanna post here about what they like and hate as far as Dios are Concerned.

Dio authors can't get better if they don't know what people like to see. C'mon, people, tell us what you wanna see. What you like and what turns you off in a Dio!

[Dersham]

If anyone has seen my dios they know that they're always in orange. Does anyone know of a good lightbulb to use. My dios are mostly shot on my wargame table in my basement, the green paint should be the main giveaway. I like shooting the sets there just for the ease of things and because it won't get affected by the weather, but at the same time it doesn't look professional, especially since you can see the light bulbs on the ceiling or my black and white TV in the background. But yes a light bulb that gives off a more white light and yet is still bright enough to be useful (100 Watt range is usually what i use) would be useful to know in the future, whenever I get a chance to get back to my collection.

[General Scarlett]

I think that if you use a smaller watt bulb (60) it will bring down the brightness. Also, try setting up a sheet or foamboard or some such other things as 'backround' to get rid of the TV & stuff. You could also try to diffuse the light by turning the source away from what your shooting or by using something to cover the directness of the light on your subject.
Also, you can put light in various other places in the room and then set the camera to 'P', well that's what it is on my camera, and let the camera pull whatever light is around.........

Just play with different stuff, you'll get it!!!!! Good Luck!!!