Digital movie-making is changing the landscape of the film industry. It’s at a point now where it seems that filmmakers using film cameras, film stock and editing film splicers to produce movies are a thing of the past. However, the annual Reel Loud Film Festival, held on campus, is keeping the art of using film alive.

At the Reel Loud Film Festival, student filmmakers work on 16mm film to make silent movies, which will premiere at Campbell Hall. However, the Reel Loud Festival is also interested in replicating silent film era exhibition by having a live musical performance accompany each film. Previous years included many different and diverse musical accompaniments, including four-piece orchestras, acoustic guitar ballads and trippy, electronic synth music. There will also be various live acts interspersed between the films, with past years’ acts including interpretive dancers, break-dancers and lasso artists — replicating the vaudeville acts that would usually accompany films in the more high-class picture palaces of the silent era. There is also a visual art show that accompanies the event, with many pieces centered on the theme of this year’s festival, “The Death of Cinema.”

The Reel Loud Film Festival is a unique experience and is worth checking out. The combination of films, music and accompanying live acts will be like nothing you’ll see anywhere else. So come down to Campbell Hall on May 25 at 8 p.m., and get ready for a great time.