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No. 338:

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Permanent URL: https://mezzacotta.net/postcard/?comic=338

Recovered from the browser cache of: David Morgan-Mar

The author writes:

As you can no doubt tell, I've discovered the art of home processing black and white film. This strip was actually shot on some old film that a friend of mine discovered in his basement, which expired back in the early 70s. He found about 300 rolls of the stuff! After testing it to make sure it could still hold an image, he offered me a bunch.

Not having a film camera any more, I then had to find someone who did have one and borrow it off them. Then it was a matter of looking around the campus of the local university to find some students who could pass for my main characters with a bit of make-up and suitable costumes. (Antoinette was difficult, and the chemistry student I found was reluctant to wear the prosthetic, claiming she was a vegetarian, but I eventually managed to convince her.)

I set up the scene in a vacant computer lab, which is why they're all talking to each other via chat networks. At least, they're supposed to be - I didn't realise the guy playing Blackdrip was looking at that site when I took the photos, I swear! After the shoot, I bought the actors lunch and gave them the URL of my site (hi guys!).

Then I had to develop the film. I'd done some black and white developing years ago, so thought I knew what I was doing, but it's easy to mess up if you're not exactly sure of the temperatures and timings. Which is why the shots look so underexposed - or maybe it's because I underexposed them - oh well. And the scratches are from squeegeeing the water off the negatives, which scraped some of the emulsion off, apparently. And I left the dust spots from the scanner on, since they would have taken hours to remove and - after all is said and done - I'm really just lazy when it comes to making my comics.