Project: Media theory integration

 For this post I need to research one media theory to integrate into my film. And I already have a good theory that fits my project.

I forgot to mention it before but my film will have no dialogue: there will still be sound but no talking from any characters nor narration. I prefer the classic technique of "show don't tell", especially because I think that nowadays movies just... talk too much, which ruins a perfect scene if the characters did not talk at all. I do not like to spoon feed information for the entirety of my film: I feel as though a movie needs to have a perfect balance of dialogue and silence: and unless a film needs dialogue, like a murder mystery, then that's when I think talking can be used more extensively. But generally if I had to pick from the two, I would prefer more silence than more talking. 

I feel like putting a film's message into words really limits the meaning and beauty of a film. If a movie tells the audience what to think, it makes the viewers think of a complex idea only in one way, when in actuality that idea the message is talking about is very complex and ravishing. There is just things in life that cannot be explained in just a few words: it cannot be simplistic, and there is not one "right" way for an idea to be thought of and displayed to others. I feel as though dialogue is merely just an aid to a film, and that visuals are the true factors that tells a story. 

Stephen King, one of the greatest authors, perfectly encapsulate what I think about words and how it diminishes meaning. In King's "Different Seasons", a collection of four novellas, one of the stories called "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" perfectly quotes how I think words diminishes complexity. Saying "The most important things are the hardest things to say. They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them — words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they're brought out."

And the theory that generally encapsulates my view is the Active Audience Theory by Stuart Hall. Hall states that audiences interpret media through their own experiences and social contexts, with the intended message by the creator may not be understood because everyone has their own opinions and beliefs.

For my films, I like to keep the message or meaning open minded, meaning that viewers can interpret my film in any way they want. It is not like I am just creating a film just because; I still have a general, usually simplistic, idea of what the message is. But if I'm asked what the meaning of my film is? Then I won't answer because I prefer to hear from other people what they think about my project.