Animate Old Photos and watch one move before you decide
One photograph, repaired and given back the moment around the shutter. You watch it first and pay afterwards, or not at all.
- Watch it before you pay
- Faded or torn photos welcome
- Plays on any TV or phone
What it means to animate old photos
To animate old photos is to give a still picture back the seconds around it: a head turning, a hand moving, the light shifting behind a wedding party.
The photograph is repaired before any of that. So the picture that moves is the mended one, not the faded one.
What moves and what does not
- A face you can make out will move.
- A face turned away, in profile or lost in a crowd is left exactly as it is.
- The background moves when the frame has life in it, and stays put when it does not.
Rebuilding a hidden face produces somebody who is not quite the person the family remembers. Everybody notices, so it is not done.
A wedding and a mother with children on her lap are not moved the same way.
The film reads the moment first, then asks what people at that occasion actually did in the second before the shutter.
Start with one
You do not have to commit an album to find out whether this works.
The first three photographs cost nothing, so put in the one everybody talks about and watch what comes back. After those three it is two euros each, up to fifty.
- A private link that plays on a TV, a phone or a tablet
- A file to download and keep
- A recut, on the same screen, whenever the motion is not right
- The whole film, however many photographs are in it
Where people go next
- Old photos to video, once the box is next
- A memorial video, when it is for somebody who has died
- Gifts for grandparents, when it is a present
- Restore old photos and bring them to life, for what the repair step does
- How to digitize a framed photo, when the only copy is behind glass
The print they kept for fifty years, moving again
Send a phone photo of the print, faded or torn. It is repaired first, then given a few seconds of the moment it was taken in, and the family watches it together.
Create your film
What goes into their film
Old ones welcome
Fading, scratches, tears and colour casts are repaired before anything moves.
Brought to life
Each photograph gets its own moment on screen, the moment around the shutter played out.
Music that fits them
Your first answer sets the music and the words on the end card.
One link for the family
It plays on a TV, a phone or a tablet, and every branch of the family can watch it.
How to animate old photos from a print
- 1
Say who it is for
A reel for a grandmother is not scored like a reel for a wedding. Your answer sets the music and the words on the end card.
- 2
Choose a look
The Album opens on a table and settles on your first photograph. It is the opening every reel gets, and the music follows your first answer.
- 3
Add your photographs
Three or thirty. Each one gets its own moment on screen, so the more you add the longer the film runs.
- 4
Watch it before you pay
The film is cut while you wait and you watch the whole thing. Only then is there anything to decide.
Can you animate old photos that are damaged?
Yes, and damaged ones often come back best. Fading, scratches, tears and colour casts are repaired before any motion is added.
Does the person still look like themselves?
That is the line the engine will not cross. Faces clear enough to move are moved, and faces that are turned away or hidden are kept still rather than invented.
Do I need the original print?
No. A daylight phone photo of the print, with the print filling the frame, is enough to work from.
How long does one take?
About a minute from the moment the photograph finishes uploading, and you watch it on the same page.
What if the motion is not right?
Ask for a change on the same screen and it is cut again. That costs nothing, because you have not paid for anything yet.
See their old photos move before you decide
Add their photos and watch the whole film. You only pay once you have seen it.
Create your film