Every year on International Women’s Day, people around the world share stories of women’s achievements and social movements. While researching materials for a short tribute video, I discovered several pieces of archival footage showing early demonstrations, speeches, and celebrations.
However, most of these clips had common problems: faded colors, low resolution, heavy noise, and poor lighting. I decided to experiment with HitPaw VikPea to see whether AI enhancement could restore these historical recordings and make them suitable for modern viewing.
This post shares my restoration process and the results.
Where I Found Historical Women’s Day Footage
To start the project, I needed reliable archival material. After exploring several archives, I found useful clips from the following sources:
Library of Congr ess
A large collection of historical films and newsreels. Many clips include detailed metadata such as event dates, locations, and historical context.
British Pathé
This archive contains thousands of historical newsreels covering political demonstrations, social movements, and cultural events.
Eu ropeana
Europeana aggregates collections from museums, libraries, and archives across Europe, making it easier to discover historical footage related to women’s movements.
Free stock platforms like Pixabay and Vecteezy also provided a few clips that could be used for educational projects.
Why I Chose AI Video Enhancement
Many archival clips were recorded decades ago, so they often contain visual issues such as:
• washed-out or faded colors
• heavy grain and noise
• low resolution
• unstable lighting
• scratches and film artifacts
Traditional video editing can fix some of these problems, but AI tools can analyze frames and automatically rebuild details that are difficult t o repair manually.
That’s why I tested HitPaw VikPea, which includes multiple AI models specifically designed for video restoration.
If you want the deeper information about restoring historical Women’s Day footage, go to this guide:
AI Guide to Restore and Enhance Historica l Women’s Day Footage
Key AI Features I Used
Here are several VikPea features that helped improve the historical clips:
AI Colorist Model
Automatically detects outlines and fills them with realistic colors, especially useful for mon o chrome or faded footage.
Colorize Model
Adds natural colors to black-and-white recordings, bringing historical scenes to life.
Color Enhancement Model
Improves color balance, saturation, and brightness without making footage look unnatural.
Low-light Enhancement Model
Brightens dark recordings and reduces noise from night scenes or poorly lit environments.
SDR to HDR Model
Converts standard footage into HDR-like visuals with better contrast and depth.
AI Upscaling
Improves resolution and clarity, making old videos look sharper on modern displays.
My Step-by-Step Restoration Process
Here’s the workflow I used to restore the archival clips.
Step 1. Install and Open VikPea
After installing HitPaw VikPea, I launched the program and selected the AI Colorist feature from the main interface.
Step 2. Import the Footage
I uploaded the historical video clips that needed restoration.
The AI Colorist provided two useful options:
Colorize Only
Adds AI-generated colors while keeping the original resolution unchanged.
Colorize + Enhance
Applies colorization while also improving resolution, reducing noise, and refining details. For most clips, I used Colorize + Enhance because the footage was quite old.
Step 3. Preview the Results
Before exporting, I previewed the improved version to compare the original and enhanced footage. The restored colors and improved clarity were immediately noticeable.
Step 4. Export the Restored Video
Once the enhancement process finished, I exported the video and saved it to my computer. The restored footage looked signific antly clearer and more vivid.
Final Thoughts
This small project showed me how powerful AI restoration tools can be. Historical Women’s Day footage often contains valuable cultural stories, but poor visual quality can make it difficult for modern audiences to engage with it.
Using HitPaw VikPea, I was able to restore color, improve clarity, and enhance the overall viewing experience. The result was a much more vivid tribute video that better high lights the history behind International Women’s Day.
If you are working on documentaries, educational content, or historical storytelling, AI video enhancement can make archival footage far more accessible and engaging.