---
title: "Uncanny Algorithm Turns Still Portraits Into Full-Motion Videos"
description: "An amazing new deepfake algorithm turns single frames into full-motion videos, reminiscent of photographs and paintings in the \"Harry Potter\" series."
date: "2019-05-22"
modified: "2019-05-22"
authors:
  - name: "Jon Christian"
    job_title: "Executive Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/deepfake-algorithm-still-portraits"
categories:
  - "Artificial Intelligence"
tags:
  - "artificial intelligence"
  - "deepfakes"
  - "machine learning"
  - "the digest"
---

# Uncanny Algorithm Turns Still Portraits Into Full-Motion Videos

![An amazing new deepfake algorithm turns single frames into full-motion videos, reminiscent of photographs and paintings in the "Harry Potter" series.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/terrifying-ai-turns-still-portraits-into-full-motion-videos.png>)
*\<em\>Image: Egor Zakharov/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Talking Heads

Over the past few years, we've seen the rapid rise of "deepfake" technology that uses machine learning to analyze footage of real people — and then [churn out convincing video](<https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/gydydm/gal-gadot-fake-ai-porn>) of them doing things they never did or saying things they never said.

Now, researchers are pushing the tech even further — with an algorithm so powerful that it can turn a single frame into a full-motion movie, reminiscent of photographs and paintings in the "Harry Potter" series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1b5aiTrGzY

## This Paint It

The algorithm, described in a [new paper](<https://arxiv.org/abs/1905.08233v1>) on the preprint server *arXiv*, can learn to create new video of a person by examining just a few frames of their face — or even just a single shot, though the results aren't quite as crisp.

In [a video](<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1b5aiTrGzY>) by algorithm creator Egor Zakharov, the system whips up convincing video of celebrities, including Justin Bieber, Britney Spears and Neil Patrick Harris, and turns still frames of historical figures Marilyn Monroe, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and even Leonardo Da Vinci's iconic Mona Lisa into lifelike videos.

The results are extraordinary **—** and slightly terrifying.

**READ MORE:** [Few-Shot Adversarial Learning of Realistic Neural Talking Head Models](<https://arxiv.org/abs/1905.08233v1>) \[*arXiv*\]

**More on deepfakes:** [*These Full-Body Deepfakes are Like Nothing We've Ever Seen*](<https://futurism.com/full-body-deepfakes>)

## Author
I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/jonchristian.net>)