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AI colorization gives new life to 100-year-old footage from 1920s

May 25, 2023 by Dunja Djudjic Add Comment

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Although footage colorization makes some historians upset, many of us find them fun to watch. A recent video from Glamour Daze shows 1920s New York but in a completely new light. Using AI upscaling and colorization, the video gives us a new look at the Roaring 20s.

This video shows Manhattan, New York City, in 1929. These well-dressed folks walk down Fifth Avenue for the Easter Parade, and you can see them queuing outside St Patrick’s Cathedral. The video was colorized and upscaled to 4k 60fps using AI. “Original black and white silent footage was denoised, upscaled, and colorized using deep exemplar-based video colorization,” Glamour Daze explains. As in many video of this kind, an ambient soundtrack was created and added at the end for an “immersive experience.”

For the Easter Parade, people would dress in their finest clothes, as the video creator explains. “Rivaling the “well dressed,” came a group of [the] unemployed led by the famous “Mr. Zero”, Urbain Ledoux. He leads a group of older men wearing hats and wooden shoes.”

“The Easter Parade on Fifth Avenue in New York during the 1920s was a spectacle that attracted thousands of people. It was a time when the city was experiencing economic prosperity and social changes. The parade was a celebration of the end of Lent and the arrival of spring, and it was a time for people to show off their fashionable attire.”

Considering that fashion was booming in the 1920s, people enjoyed showing off their clothes and accessories at the Easter Parade. But it was also an opportunity to socialize with friends and family, and enjoy food and drinks in cafes and restaurants along the way.

“The parade continued to be a popular event throughout the 20th century, although it evolved and changed over time. Today, the Easter Parade on Fifth Avenue is still a beloved tradition in New York City, although it is more focused on creativity and self-expression than fashion. Nevertheless, the parade’s roots in the 1920s continue to influence and inspire the city’s culture and traditions.”

The 1920s is the era that’s been romanticized the most. Even though it ended with a stock market crash that partially led to the Great Depression, this era was exciting in many aspects. Technological innovations, the blooming entertainment industry, jazz music, and fashion (oh, the fashion!) – these are some of the reasons why we prefer the 1920s over the ’20s we live in, 100 years later. After all, our ’20s started with a pandemic; that’s a good enough reason not to like them. Still, the 2020s brought us the boom of AI technology, which helped to colorize and upscale this video. So, I guess this is a good way to get the best of our era and the “simpler times” from 100 years ago.

[via PetaPixel]

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Filed Under: Inspiration Tagged With: AI, Artificial Intelligence, colorization, colorized footage, Upscaling

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.net

About Dunja Djudjic

Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

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Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

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