Make a Short look like a 1990s home video: a Gemini Omni edit

To make a clip look like a 1990s home video, send it as a video_url to Gemini Omni Flash 1.1 on Sume with a prompt that names the look and says what must stay the same. YouTube's Shorts Remix example is the same idea: its blog gives changing a scene to a 90s aesthetic as one thing you can do with Gemini Omni.

That example is from the YouTube Blog post on Google I/O 2026, read 2026-10-02. It works on eligible Shorts inside YouTube; the Sume version works on a file you supply.

What should the prompt say?

A restyle prompt has three parts: the target look, what is preserved, and what must not appear. Sume's docs say the edit prompt "describes the edit", so write it as an instruction. Put exclusions positively ("keep the faces sharp") rather than as a negative list.

Words that tend to carry a period look: camcorder footage, soft focus, slightly washed colour, date stamp in the corner, handheld motion. Say once that the dialogue and action stay unchanged.

• Look: "1990s camcorder footage, soft focus, slightly washed colours, tape grain"
• Keep: "same people, same action, same speech"
• Avoid: describe positively, such as "keep the edges of the frame clean"
• Detail: one change per request; stack restyles in a second pass

What is the request?

Use the Video Router edit mode. resolution is optional and defaults to 720p; aspect_ratio and duration are not accepted. Audio is always on for this model, and generate_audio: false is rejected.

curl -X POST https://api.sume.com/v1/video-router/generate \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUME_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: nineties-look-001" \
  -d '{
    "model": "gemini-omni-flash-1.1",
    "prompt": "Restyle as 1990s camcorder footage: soft focus, washed colours, tape grain, a date stamp bottom right. Same people, same action, same speech.",
    "video_url": "https://example.com/short.mp4",
    "resolution": "720p",
    "mode": "async"
  }'

What about length and format?

Sume's generation envelope for this model is 3-10 seconds, 16:9 or 9:16. The docs do not state an input-length cap for edit mode, so test with a short clip before sending a long one. If your Short is longer, cut it into sections with Video trim ($0.02 per job, start plus end or duration), restyle each, and rejoin with Timeline 1.0 at $0.10 per output minute.

Trim and Timeline need Sume-hosted media.sume.com URLs, so import the file first with POST /v1/media-imports.

How do I label the result?

A restyled clip of real people is altered content. Check the platform's disclosure toggle before you upload. For what the watermark does and does not prove, see Gemini Omni video watermark and SynthID.