Something like this has been needed for a long time.
Film companies, museums and historians now have access to a new tool for working with archival materials. The YandexART neural network, developed by Yandex, has learned to restore video recordings, returning them to their former clarity and detail.
The capabilities of YandexART have already been appreciated by the creators of the series “Games” about the backstage of the 1980 Olympics. The neural network breathed new life into the video chronicle of “Mosfilm” and the Russian State Archive of Film and Photo Documents. Blurred and fuzzy footage from forty years ago turned into highly detailed video.
What is the secret of the technology? Yandex developers taught the model to process low-quality materials step by step, without allowing “hallucinations” – the invention of non-existent details. YandexART restores texture, draws small elements, increases resolution and increases sharpness. Thus, patterns on dresses appeared in the newsreel footage, bricks appeared on the walls, and headlights and turn signals appeared on cars.
Thanks to the joint work of the computer vision teams of Yandex, Yandex Research and Plus Studio, viewers will see unique footage: Olympic athletes, the streets of Moscow in the 80s, amateur footage and press materials. The restored chronicle has become an integral part of the drama “Games”, which will premiere on Kinopoisk on August 3. The series will tell about the preparation for a grand sporting event that was supposed to lift the Iron Curtain of the Soviet Union. The heroes will face not only the difficulties of organizing the Olympics, but will also become participants in political games.
