I watched a lot of silent directors who were absolutely great like John Ford and Fritz Lang Tod Browning and also some very modern directors like The Coen Brothers. The directors take the freedom within their own movies to be melodramatic or funny when they chose to be. They do whatever they want and they don't care about the genre.
It always makes me sad when I think of how I saw Wagner wasting his vitality not only by singing their parts to some of his artists but acting out the smallest details and of how few they were who were responsive to his wishes.
Please write music like Wagner only louder.
I love Wagner but the music I prefer is that of a cat hung up by its tail outside a window and trying to stick to the panes of glass with its claws.