I heard it was done the other way around. Pump up your muscles and take the "after" photo. Spend the next day eating like a pig and drinking to excess. Roll out of bed and take the "before" photo.
I used to be in the electronics industry. It amazed me that cities thought of it as a clean neighbor unlike iron foundries or pulp mills. It is a horrendous polluter not only because of the nasty chemicals it requires, but also because operators have the habit of pouring waste onto the ground. In other words, those tanks are not leaking.
On missing cinema: There were a couple of fires in secure, supposedly fireproof, storage vaults that destroyed 90% of all film created before 1930. Spontaneous combustion, a real danger, is the suspected cause. A precious few people are left alive that worked in those facilities. They could be a great resource for any investigator looking for clues as to where other copies might be found.
Glasses with prisms (not mirrors) work very well for people who are bedridden or with fused necks. For best results, they do need to be fitted by a professional.