How does an AI anniversary video work?

How does an AI anniversary video work, when all you have is a shoebox of old prints and a few phone photos? The short answer: you tell the story, you send photos through a private link, you approve a likeness preview, and Gabriel Ortiz directs the film. AI renders the images; a person decides what the film says.

This page walks through the whole process, the photos that give the best results, how AI is really used, and the commitments that come with every film, whether it's an anniversary, a wedding surprise for your partner or a gift to the couple from their friends.

How an AI anniversary video works, step by step

1. The brief

It starts with a conversation, in writing. Who is the film for? What's the occasion and the date of the screening? Which eras or memories should it travel through? The most useful details are often the small ones: the dress she wore to the dance, the motorcycle he sold to pay for the ring, the city where they spent their first winter.

You don't need a script. A few honest paragraphs are enough, and Gabriel comes back with questions if something is missing.

2. Discreet photo upload

You receive a private upload link. No account to create, no app to install. You can share the link with your accomplices, such as brothers and sisters, the best man or an aunt who keeps the family albums, so everyone can add photos from their own phone or computer.

Nothing is ever sent to the person being surprised: no email, no notification, no link. The wording on your bank statement is discreet too.

3. Likeness preview and test shot

Before the full production starts, you receive a likeness preview: a few stills showing how the couple will appear on screen. Then a short test shot in one of the chosen eras, so you can judge the movement, the light and the mood.

This is the moment to say "her smile is softer than that" or "he never wore his hair that short." Likeness is adjusted here, before any time is spent on the full film.

4. Production

Gabriel writes the sequence of scenes, generates and selects the shots, edits them to the music and grades the whole film so the eras feel like one story. A finished film is made from many more shots than you'll see; most are discarded because a hand looks wrong, an expression isn't quite them, or a moment doesn't serve the story.

Depending on the film, production takes from 72 hours to about three weeks. Every length and delay is on the pricing page.

5. The delivery page

The final cut arrives on a private, password-protected page, before your date. You can play it directly from that page on a TV or a projector, and download the MP4 to keep. If the film includes revisions, you request them from there.

What photos work best

The film can only be as good as the faces it learns from. Here is what helps the most.

How many photos

A few clear photos per person are enough to begin. More photos help, as long as they are varied: around 10 to 20 per person, from different years, angles and expressions, gives the strongest likeness. Fifty nearly identical selfies help less than fifteen photos that show the face in different ways.

For an anniversary film, try to include photos from the decade they met as well as recent ones. That way, the young couple in the opening scene and the couple at the end are recognizably the same people.

Angles and expressions

• At least a few photos where the face is seen straight on, eyes visible.
• Some three-quarter views and, if possible, a profile.
• A mix of expressions: a real laugh, a quiet smile, a neutral face.
• Full-body photos are useful too, for posture, height and the way someone stands.

Light

Daylight is your friend: a face by a window or outdoors in the shade is ideal. Avoid photos where the face is half in deep shadow, lit by colored party lights, or blown out by a flash. Sunglasses, hats pulled low and hands in front of the face hide exactly what the film needs.

Old prints and family albums

Old photos work well, even small, faded or slightly creased ones. Choose prints where the face is reasonably large in the frame; a tiny figure in a group photo gives very little to work from. If the print has a date or a place written on the back, mention it in your brief. It can become a title card or a scene.

Scanning tips

• Use a flatbed scanner if you have one. For family prints, most archivists recommend scanning between 300 and 600 dpi, and 600 dpi is the safer choice for small prints you may want to enlarge. Going beyond 600 dpi on a print rarely adds real detail.
• Clean the glass with a soft, dry cloth before each session. Dust shows up as specks on every scan.
• Take prints out of plastic sleeves when you can do so safely; the plastic adds glare. If a photo is stuck to an album page, leave it there and photograph it instead.
• No scanner? Lay the print flat by a window in indirect daylight, hold your phone parallel to it, turn off the flash and fill the frame. A free phone scanning app can correct the perspective.
• Don't retouch or filter. Send the photo as it is. Restoration is part of the work, and filters remove the details that make a face recognizable.
• Avoid screenshots of social media posts. They are compressed; ask for the original file instead.

How AI is used, honestly

AI is the camera, not the director.

Gabriel Ortiz is an art director and film director who works with photoreal AI images and video every day for agencies, production houses and brands through his studio, Le Work de Jeez. For AmorSaga, he directs each film personally. He reads the brief, decides the structure, chooses which moments become scenes, selects every shot from the many that are generated, edits the film to the music and sets the final grade.

The AI tools render the images: the faces from your photos, the costumes, the light on a Nile terrace or a pirate deck. They are powerful, and they still make mistakes, which is why every shot is reviewed and most are thrown away.

Your photos are used only as references for your own film. They are never shared, never reused for another film, and they are deleted as soon as the film is delivered.

What AI does not do: decide what matters in a couple's story. That comes from you, and from the person reading your brief. More about the founder on the about page.

Consent, privacy and deletion

A film about real people deserves care. These commitments apply to every AmorSaga film:

• Your right to the photos. When you send photos, you confirm that you have the right to use them and that everyone shown is an adult.
• A private screening first. Films are made for a private screening: the reception, the anniversary dinner, the living room. They go online only once the couple agrees.
• Deleted at delivery. Your photos are deleted as soon as your final film is delivered. Nothing stays on our side.
• Never used to train AI models. Your photos are never used to train AI models.
• No portfolio without permission. A film is never shown publicly, on this site or anywhere else, without separate permission.

Limits we keep

Some things we don't do, whatever the request:

• No children generated or animated. Grandchildren can appear in real photos or in recorded messages, never as generated or animated figures.
• Nothing sexual or suggestive.
• No celebrities, and no famous faces placed next to the couple.
• No ex-partners.
• Late loved ones, gently. A parent or grandparent who has passed away can appear only as still photographs, treated with care. No animation of their face and no voice cloning.

The "Made with AI" label, and why

Every AmorSaga film ends with a discreet "Made with AI" card in the credits. It doesn't interrupt the story, and it's always there.

The reason is simple: these films look real, and the people in them are real. A film recreating a 1974 first meeting could, years later, be taken for a home movie that never existed. The label keeps the film honest for everyone who watches it, today and in fifty years.

It also reflects where the rules are heading. In Europe, the AI Act now includes transparency obligations for AI-generated images and video that resemble real people; for creative works, the disclosure can be made in a way that doesn't spoil the work. We'd label the films even without a rule asking for it.