Deep Nostalgia

Deep Nostalgia is a feature of the MyHeritage genealogy service that animates the faces in still photographs. A user uploads a photo, typically an old family portrait, and the tool applies pre recorded driver movements to the face to produce a short, realistic video clip. The processing runs on MyHeritage servers, and the vendor states that photos and resulting videos are not shared with any third party. It is aimed at people exploring family history who want to see ancestors in motion. The tool works on both black and white and color photos, though the vendor notes that it needs a high resolution face and that faces in many historical photos are small. A photo with several faces must be animated one face at a time. The vendor states that the resulting video belongs to the user, that MyHeritage only hosts it, and that animations can also be made from the MyHeritage mobile app. The vendor states a restriction on use: the feature is intended for nostalgic purposes, to bring beloved ancestors back to life, and its driver videos include no speech in order to prevent abuse. The vendor also acknowledges that some people find the results creepy. A MyHeritage account can be created free from the feature page. Free users can create several animations and receive a MyHeritage logo watermark on the video. Complete subscribers can animate an unlimited number of photos without the watermark. Subscription prices are not shown on the pages the vendor publishes for this feature.