I’m going to stand up for the NASS people. At the outset let me agree that these films aren’t “restorations.” That’s a poor choice of words. “Re-creations” perhaps, or simply “colorizations.” I’ll also agree that some processes like upping the frame rate seem unnecessary.
However the overall project is great. Especially their reworking of black-and-white footage from the 30s through the 50s. We have always lived in a color world (despite what Calvin’s dad said) and by cleaning, colorizing, and adding audio to this footage NASS are just trying to give us a sense of what it may have felt like wandering these streets or riding these cars. They say upfront that the colors and sounds are guesswork. That would make a difference if these videos were presented as historically-accurate records, but less so in an attempt to create an ambience. On that level it works for me.
AI colorization is definitely hit and miss. It’s amazing, though, how much the process has improved in the last half-decade. Many of the new videos do have a dreamlike quality, overly sharp or overly soft, but what the heck. Reworking these videos is much like sampling dead musicians’ music or re-mixing Beatles songs. Not to everyone’s taste, but equally valid.
