Rijeka Man Brings History to Life with AI: Video Captivates Thousands
Ante Šušnjar revealed how he spent four months using artificial intelligence to create a unique visual journey through the city's past on the Rječina River.
Ante Šušnjar revealed how he spent four months using artificial intelligence to create a unique visual journey through the city's past on the Rječina River.
The video titled "Rijeka kroz vrijeme AI" (Rijeka Through Time AI), published on YouTube a few months ago, quickly won over numerous Rijeka residents and history enthusiasts. Its author, Ante Šušnjar, a marketing professional and lover of his city's past, combined old photographs, artificial intelligence, and his own curiosity to create a work that has received overwhelmingly positive reactions.
This project is a natural continuation of Šušnjar's profile "Riječka bojanka" (Rijeka Coloring Book), where he has been breathing new life into old postcards, drawings, and photographs of Rijeka using digital tools. "The idea for the video is actually a continuation of the idea behind the Riječka bojanka profile. The idea of that profile is to use various digital tools to create images of Rijeka from different periods, using old photographs, postcards, and drawings," Šušnjar explained to Riportal.
The process of creating the video was far from simple and took about four months, though not of continuous work, but rather sporadic research and learning. The most challenging part was getting artificial intelligence to produce a result that was both convincing and faithful to historical details. AI often creates a good-looking image at first glance, but changes key elements like architecture, which poses a major problem for historical scenes.
Šušnjar revealed that standard, simple prompts like "Colorize this black-and-white photograph" often yielded artificial or overly processed results. So, he developed a more creative approach. "I got much better results when I wrote the prompt as a specific scene," he said. As an example, he cited one of his most successful prompts: "From this black-and-white photograph, create a color photo of a scene from a film set, where everyone is pretending it's 1940. No film equipment, no cameras, just people and the atmosphere of that time."
Among the many motifs, the author is particularly fascinated by periods for which few photographic records exist, such as those from the early 20th century. "The further we go into the past, the fewer photographs there are, so we're left with vedute, drawings, and other depictions," Šušnjar points out. He finds the City Tower, or the Rijeka Clock, particularly interesting, as it has had various functions throughout history. "It used to be the entrance to the fortified city; there was a moat with water, a wooden drawbridge, and the whole area looked completely different than it does today."
He is equally fond of the Rijeka tram motif, whose first electric model started running in 1899 and operated until 1952. The scene of the "Fiumare" tram running along the Mrtvi kanal (Dead Canal) while old wooden sailing ships are moored along the shore is particularly nostalgic. Šušnjar often wonders how the city would have developed if that form of public transport had never been discontinued.
Although black-and-white photographs rich in detail are the easiest to convert to color, damaged or lower-quality ones required significantly more effort. The key to success lies in giving the AI as precise a context as possible: from the year and architectural style to the type of clothing appropriate for that time. "Anything that isn't clearly specified, the AI will try to interpret on its own, and then details often appear that look nice but aren't accurate," he explained.
For particularly demanding scenes, like the one with the fountain of Franz Joseph I, Šušnjar had to manually stitch together multiple photographs into a single composition so the AI tool could better understand the space and atmosphere he wanted. He is willing to share his knowledge and experience with these tools with others. "Yes, absolutely. I see it as a natural continuation of my practical work with AI tools so far," he confirmed, adding that the real value lies in evaluating results and steering the tools toward a specific goal.
Although he expected some criticism because the video doesn't cover all parts of the city or key historical figures, the audience reactions pleasantly surprised him. He is aware that AI-generated content should always be viewed as an interpretation, not a fully accurate historical reconstruction. "What the video did best, in my opinion, is that it didn't replace old photographs, but brought them closer to people in a new way," he concluded.
His greatest reward is when the video sparks curiosity in viewers. "That means the video wasn't just something to watch, but it opened up additional curiosity for someone," said Šušnjar. If anyone, after watching, felt the urge to explore old photos of their neighborhood or talk to older family members about how the city once looked, the project has fully fulfilled its purpose.
