Video Upscaling software. (Before & After pics)

I didn't know where to put this, and I also didn't want it to seem like I'm spamming, but recently I've been experimenting with upscaling software to update my older projects- it's a mixed bag and the tech is getting better, but not quite there yet.

I'm using a short video I assisted on as a test. The story is about a reporter who realizes his government is starting to crack down on individualism; I play the reporter's manager, a supporting role.

The short was shot on Hi-8 video.

The shots:
(The software upscales & tries to provide detail only; the color correction is my work.)






This one has incredibly accurate detail:


My appearance: (I was 22 when this was shot back in 1994)


The faces have an unfortunate AI-generated quality to them. Also, my skin was NEVER that perfect. If you examine the top pic closely, you can still see my acne & pockmarks.

I've noticed in a few shots that the program does weird things- one character does not wear glasses, yet for a few seconds he's clearly wearing spectacles. Facial features also distort slightly in wide shots where information is pretty much guessed at.

When I'm done with this, I may upload it for viewing. It's only 15 minutes long. Acting & writing is done by teenagers, so take that into account. (I was in film school and assisting the director with this project.)

 

Whoa.
Totally out of my league. It’s unbelievable what technology can do today.

 

Very kewl. Please do upload the end result.

Is it possible for us to view both versions once your done?

 

Or at least some of the original?

 

I don't see why not. Don't watch it expecting Oscar-winning performances, though.

On a related note, I'm also experimenting with AI generating software and it's fairly disastrous- I can't get it to do anything worthwhile, but on the other hand I can make it do completely crazy nonsense, and I may just combine the two to make a laugh riot out of this project. (This project featured a brief fight scene, and I tried to lengthen it slightly with AI, but all it did was make the two combatants engage in a dance-off, and no, I'm not kidding about that.)

 

I've read other comments about AI creating content that wasn't what the artist/creator wanted.

Once you give AI an idea, do you no longer have control over what AI creates? Are you able to edit? redirect? during the process? These redundant questions sound good in my head, not so good in writing.

 

I honestly don't know how other people manage it; I'm playing around with a program called RunwayML, and any time I attempt to create something, I get random garbage or the image in question doesn't do anything other than "shift" slightly. (If I take a photo of someone and tell the program to make the person wave, the person will just move slightly and their face will change... but nothing else.

Recently I went back after a few months after not using it and it's improved slightly, but I still can't get it to do exactly what I want. I don't know if my prompts are not verbose enough, or too much verbosity.

This is their website (This is not the video software I'm using, that's an entirely different animal.)
Runway | Tools for human imagination.

 

As another test, I uploaded a few shots from a movie done not by me, but one of my contemporaries. I had nothing to do with this movie, but my connection is that they shot part of it at my best friend's house in Ogden Dunes in Indiana.

The plot revolves around a vampire killing teenagers in suburban Indiana.




Heck of a difference. I don't know why my other tests with my personal work don't look as good. There's a difference, surely, but it's not as striking.

 

This has nothing to do with the thread (well, not exactly). We get a TV channel that shows series & movies from Africa, & they look and sound as though they were recorded on worn out VHS cameras recording over material on deteriorating VHS tapes. That might be a case of making due with what you have, & being thankful for it.

 

These are frame grabs from my own work for comparison:





I'm seeing some odd artifacts; some "ghosting" near people's faces, and generally enough weirdness to where I don't think it's worth the money to convert this piece. My test shots just don't blow me away.

 

The "dark" one don't seem to show the improvement the lighted ones do. The sunlight helps???

 

More light is likely helpful.

I would gather that my use of closeups also aids the software make less guesses as to what detail should be there.

For the short film System Shock, there are medium shots where one or two times the characters look like they're wearing glasses. This does not happen with closeups.

 

A friend of mine who studied my sample shots stated that since we're still early in the development in this technology, this might get much better down the road.