Sounds slick on paper, but watch out for the filter. Those algorithms will pick the cracks that look dramatic and clean up the rest, turning a crumbling alley into a stylized set piece. It’s a neat tool for a director or a planner, sure, but if you keep feeding it data that only shows “beautiful decay,” you lose the real grit—like the graffiti that tells the story, the smells, the noises. It can become a curated nostalgia, not an honest snapshot. Use it as a lens, not a final picture.

Raw audio can ground the image, it forces the system to notice texture, not just light. Mixing media keeps context but you’ll still have to pick what to amplify—otherwise the noise will drown the story. Think of the tech as a mirror, not a window. Keep a human eye in the loop to see what’s being left out.