The Making of BEGIN—AGAIN (Part 02).
I just had lunch with Price Robideux, the magician editor behind BEGIN—AGAIN, the short film we released a few weeks ago.
Price was the ideal collaborator for this project: open-minded, inventive, and willing to experiment. Given that BEGIN—AGAIN is entirely built from archival footage, some of it more than 20 years old, we had to get creative in how we restored, enhanced, and repurposed what we had. Here are a few key AI tools that played a role in shaping the final film:
🔹 TOPAZ LABS — Restoring, Upscaling, Enhancing
Topaz Labs specializes in AI-powered video enhancement, helping us restore old footage, reduce noise, sharpen details, and upscale resolution. Given the variety of formats and quality levels we were working with, this was a crucial tool in making decades-old clips feel cohesive in a modern edit. topazlabs.com
🔹 RUNWAY — Animating Stills, Enhancing Transitions
Runway is an AI-driven creative suite that allowed us to bring static images to life, adding subtle motion effects that helped make old photographs feel more dynamic. We also used it to enhance transitions between sequences, blending footage in ways that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise (see "before and after" example shown here). runwayml.com
🔹 11 LABS — Audio Restoration, AI Voice Training
With many of our audio sources being low-quality, 11 Labs was key in enhancing old recordings, reducing background noise, and improving clarity. We also experimented with AI-generated voice training (on yours truly!), which allowed us to seamlessly blend archival audio with new narration. The result: a more unified and immersive soundscape. elevenlabs.io
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Special thanks to my former colleagues at INDUSTRY for "loaning out" Price—he's so badass, he doesn’t even have a website to link to here! Their support and access to production facilities in Portland was key.
As AI continues to evolve, it’s opening up fascinating new ways to reimagine old stories in a new way. Excited for the next!
💛 Garett
