Mike Jittlov: The Wizard of Speed and Time (1983-1988)

[AliceMoving]

The most epic epic film that ever epic'd.

[H2R504]

They featured this on the children's show "The Great Space Coaster". I was blown away by the effects of this short film.

[jimamidon]

that was fun, I wanna go again *VBS*

[TheTawki]

That is so cool...

[jleedsjr]

My 3 1/2 year old's favorite video. That makes me happy, because I have fond memories of seeing the original short every year at the Atlanta Fantasy Fair.

[PetrossDelta]

Best job EVAR! :DDDDDDDDDDD

[MrWundrful]

imagine him on crack O.O

[eisforoiler]

Cures communism in the 3rd minute

[slowfuse]

gay

[Warnerama]

@slowfuse you asshole

[NuggetPumpkin]

@slowfuse no mods no masters

[Kuroneko388]

Mike's kinda hot as the Wizard :)

[NotDerekSmart]

Well, that was psychotic.

[MischiefMakerStudio1]

I don't know how or when, but it is my dream to make a movie like this for You Tube!

[TriggerheartExcelica]

How many rerecords did this take?

[1BrknHrtdRomeo]

Before the Flash! There was...

The Wizard of Speed and Time!!!!

[COMALiteJ]

@1BrknHrtdRomeo, as I understand it, Jittlov offered to do the effects for the “The Flash” TV series, cheap. They turned him down. The cost for the special effects helped send the series way over budget, resulting in its early cancellation despite decent ratings. And said effects weren’t even as good as this. Not even close.

[premier6666]

Why is this so fun to watch?

[BecMongolianChopSqua]

Woukdn't the wind blow his hood down?

[GORATPHUQ]

heck yeah i watch this on nightflight which in turn made get the VHS tape so whatever happen to him

[xoiern]

I would like to shake Mike's hand. A simple wish. Mike, my hand is waiting.

[artgoat]

This has to be seen single-frame, because he put in thousands of subliminals. And just like in the original short, it's MJ who gets beat up for scoring his performance less than "10"

[ccdesan]

Mr. Jittlov is a wizard in the truest sense of the word. I love the whole film, but the Wizard Run, which is based largely on this work, is absolutely the best part. It fires the imagination. Huge respect!

[prime251]

The guy who holds up the 9.7 is mike

[yourass117]

Mike Jitlov looks exactly like one of my fucking math teachers! HAH!

[underfrogg]

almost cry laughing at the end when the one guy holds up (9.5) .. and gets beaten by the other judges ....he must have been french....lol

[SirBrightbud]

LMMFAO I was 1 when they started work on this,was six before they actually put it out.Just noticed something funny though, on 2:36 the lower left hand sign says "Watch out, Jittlov at work."

[dandeentremont]

Not only was this short a great pioneer for VFX, it also depicts Hollywood more accurately than anything you will ever see.

[brassmoney91]

If Family Guy did make a spoof of this

it will be funny as hell

[stenchmachine]

@brassmoney91 Nothing Family Guy does is funny

[EntilZa1]

I have a copy of the full length feature on VHS, and really need to dub it off before the tape degrades.

I stayed up until 3AM at a SF convention years ago just to watch the short version (again).

[deftlink]

stop motioooon!!! yeeeeeh!

[bobbavet]

This was a great stoner movie back in the day. 8)

[toemasie]

doode! i would watch the movie over and over again. It was very funny. The trailer said, "five years in the making...five days at the theater!"

Get this on DVD!!!

[puncheex]

This film was made originally as part of a Disney short. Later on, after trying to ride the Hollywood beast, he expanded it into a 90 minute movie about how to make such a movie, also called The Wizard of Speed and Time. It is classic parody of a lot of Hollywood quirks. Get it if you can; it was released on VHS.

PS: the woman getting out of her car at the bottom of SF's Lombard street is his mother.

[KrautGoesWild]

I need that on DVD!!

[Terfster]

L.A. is worse than the midwest.

that poor, poor girl.

[RatedJpG]

I'm sure I saw this as part of a special episode of "Disneyland" (note the final star shown on Hollywood's Walk of Fame is Mickey's) and I never thought I'd see it again. Thank you so much for sharing! :)

[ieatorbs]

This movie creeped the hell out of me when I was a kid..I don't know why.

[manonmoon12]

2:10 i think id run like that if i had all those birds waiting for me

[hygrow]

awesome

[voxie]

That is amazing. And I only hear of it now, almost 30 years later? I wonder why it took so long to come out on video as well. Amazing stuff!

[djsyks1]

hahaha classic film

[Buzzramjet]

I miss the original music.

[sixt33n]

what the hell did i just watch?

also, i expected bewbs. Travelling that fast without a windshield should have ripped her clothes apart.

[sgtpepper1138]

you just watched one of the greatest movies you've never seen.

Mike jittlov (the Wizard) is/was a brilliant Special f/x man. he made one of my favorite films called (you guessed it) The Wizard of Speed and Time. basically it's kind of a true story of him on how the movie industry is so messed up. and how the little guy always gets stepped on so the big guy can get even bigger.

as I type this, i'm transferring my copy to my computer, and hopefully Youtube so others can enjoy the magic.

[seatspud]

Jittlov should've made the Transformers films!

With help from Will Vinton!

Jointly produced by Aardman and Pixar!

That would've been Awesome!

(And Michael Bay in a Turkish Prison!)

[Crossroadsinc]

Mike Jittlov is a true genius of Cinematography, It makes me sad that he may never get the credit he deserved for pioneering so many aspects of effects. Computers have made us all spoiled and many of us don't appreciate what an ART it was to do trick photography during the the 70s n 80s.

So many people have 'borrowed' from his work without giving credit

Mikes work should be standard view to anyone taking moves, he was and is a TRUE wizzerd of the silver screen, got to love that man in green.

[estebanosullivan]

I resent the assertion that because special effects were harder to create before computers, technology thus makes it less of an art form.

It may be harder for the public to understand, but don't think for a second that the creators of movie like Avatar are "spoiled" by their computers. Cinematographers will continue to challenge themselves, innovators will continue to innovate and technology is going to keep changing what is possible in moviemaking.

[DazmoTube]

@estebanosullivan

Thats whats wrong with the argument against technology. creative minds arent "spoiled" by computers, they are allowed more greater freedom because their tools are now sharper than before.

that said, why is it that old technology and special affects feel more comforting, less threatening, and are just more interesting?

id like to know that. is it because im old? or is it because there is mystery behind it - i mean everyone knows how avatar was made, but what about this movie?

[Crossroadsinc]

@DazmoTube

I couldn't agree more. Part of why it 'resent' modern CGI is because it is all so damn easy Yes I know that those who made avatar did a LOT of work, and a LOT of time went into it. Yes i know CGI frees your imagination yes it allows you to do more then we could have ever imagined But I guess because it lets you do SO much, it feels to me that it somehow cheapens things.

Does that make sense? When you watch movies like Jitlov, there is a sense of wonderment devoid in movies now

[jg2904]

@Crossroadsinc I know exactly what you mean. As Nicholas Meyer always says, "Art thrives on restrictions." Now that we can do anything imaginable with one simple trick, modern filmmaking has kind of lost the magic and, in many ways, lost the artistry.

[VulpisFoxfire]

@estebanosullivan Well, yes and no. I think part of it is knowing that efforts like this, as well as classic hand-drawn cel animation take a lot of *effort* on the part of the artist(s) in order to accomplish. With computers...it's pretty much to the point that an artist just has to set their end-points, and the computer tweens everything automatically--there's no sense of the large amounts of work put into it. Not less creative as such...just less work to do what was needed for this.

[StonerKitty42081]

It's like a stroll down memory lane! I always wonder why almost NO ONE likes this film. My sister and I are the only ones in my social circle that love it as much as it deserves.

[rjbullock]

Hey, I love it too!

[killahpops128]

at 3:33 was something blown out of that cow's ass?

[zesocialist]

Its another cows head, it moved in the animation

[TomtheMan68]

I wonder,

how did he manage to pull off such great effects?He is The Wizard!'Nuff said!

[NevTheDeranged]

This movie was a riot. Especially the electrified bicycle gag ^_^

[xxMelodicLifexx]

I remember watching this VHS every single day of my life when I was a little girl. I'm 23 now, and I still miss it!!!

[goldpot007]

bad thing is you can't buy this film now only on vhs

[toymasheenSH]

it's available on torrentspy and it's completely legal- look for Bearded_Swordsman_Single_DVD

[sgtpepper1138]

there ARE some laserdiscs floating around, i'd love to pick one up

[FluffyBunniesOnFire]

9.7!

[Pellaz2112]

* thwap-thwap-thwap-thwap-thwap *

:)

So great to see this again!

I was there the night before Dragon*Con started one year back in the 1990s...when Mike Jittlov, playfully running away from a fan, ran smack into a fully mirrored wall on the ground floor of the Atlanta Hilton. After a quick ride over to the hospital, he was fine, and made all of his scheduled appearances as a guest.

Later, we decided he had forgotten to "phase-shift out" as he ran into the wall. :)

[JSStryker]

@Pellaz2112 Damn I was there for that same Dragon*Con.

[havemercybabe]

hahahaha, i lol'd for the entire 4 minutes!

[dirkwiezer]

shit that was cool

[LoopyLooppants]

lol! 9.7 >:(

[misatok777]

Amazing this was made in 1983, long before the special FX technology that we use today was even conceived. This guy is a true genius. Hopefully he's still in the biz.

[EntilZa1]

Mike is still in the business, but I haven't seen anything new from him lately. Everything in the WoSAT film was done by hand, using stop motion (shooting 1 frame at a time, yes on film) or using hand drawn animation on cels.

Yep, the guy is a genius.

[dexlives]

He designed fonts for a while, and did several travelogue videos.

[fiatknox]

I was privileged to meet the man at a convention some time ago. :) I agree with the sentiment expressed by BlueMaxxW. Pay attention, though. Sneaky Mike likes to insert subliminals in his work ... >:)

[Jayemji]

It's true. I got to see the movie this got put in and watched the scenes with subliminals frame by frame. Pretty cool stuff.

[reaf1313]

wtf!

[BlueMaxxW]

Why isn't Jittlov working with Pixar? I know he got burned by Disney in the past, but so did Brad Bird. Mike is obviously a talented storyteller, and he clearly understands animation as a storytelling medium at a very personal level. If I worked for Pixar's accounting department, I'd let him write his own checks.

[AmazingShoestring]

He, despite having brilliance, has some weird psychological issue with holding strong grudges and pursuing things that cannot happen, and its held him back.

[bernierosekranz]

My Vid is with the End of this Movie

[SpeedOfReality]

Good News!

Mike had released a LEGAL copy to download. If you search Torrents for this text : "The[1].Wizard.of.Speed.and.Ti­me.1989.DVDRip.XviD-Untouchabl­e" you'll be happy!

[JohnConnor2029]

Far out, man.

[KurtmanJP]

I'd rather find it on RapidShare or MegaUpload.

[KurtmanJP]

Man, I wish I was that fast........

[claypoolsbass]

I am, but only in bed ;_;

[ExsultareFenix]

The fellow was and remains a creative genius. He's done quite a lot that you've seen but didn't know as his work. This flick was mostly disillusionment with being royally done over by a trusted partner and the system at large.

Once upon a time, there was talk of a DvD and many (myself included) offered to donate to see it done, but apparently there are lingering legal issues (?) or something.

A pity. I lost my director's cut VHS a few years back and have been rather sad for it.

[JohnConnor2029]

It's a good film. Too bad the system broke the chances that he might have been able to make more films. Great films. Films better than what Hollywood's putting out right now.

[awakeupnorth]

Haha! What fun!

[corinna000]

Visit Mike's homepage. Someone there will make you a copy.

[BondaY]

fake

[Mrdudeguy]

rofl

no shit sherlock

[Super8Alex]

I recall seeing this live at a Cal State Northridge Film Festival.

There are lyrics as well that seem to be missing.

[CriswellKOL]

The Wizard Run does not have lyrics. The song appears earlier in the film, but follows the Run on the original short.

[Wacek4444]

W. O. W.

I mean, WOW.

[felicity4711]

This rules! I miss the eighties. :-)

[ElveeKaye]

This is fun to watch!

[robotrix]

Good but it'll never be the orignial that he made for Disney with the song, et al...

And from what I understand about why he never made another movie - he's still not finished editing this one. It's nice to want your work to be the best but most studios want to release films eventually.

[CriswellKOL]

Oh frabjous day! Callous! Callais! I heard your call and must obey! I am uploading my collection of Mike's shorts! Fans of the green wizard rejoice! I'M LATE! Good Grief! Animato! Swing Shift! Time Tripper! The original Wizard Of Speed And Time short! And MORE!

[phenol64]

the best movie of all time. Shame he Mike Never made another movie.

[CoyotyDave]

Mike has made several. Animato, Time Tripper, a World of Disney segment on special effects, the Wizard of Speed and Time feature-length film, the opening sequence to the Disney Channel...

[nonnie7311]

cool man

[bunnyprofane]

The length of this video is 4:20.

Because of smoking marijuana.

[clockoutx]

Only for the green wizard!

[clockman5555]

if you pause it egxataly at the part where you see big ben look at the top it says wizard where the bell is

[CriswellKOL]

Is that the only subliminal you found? Look again. There are about 100 just in this clip.

[clockman5555]

i know it cool i love this film

[JohnConnor2029]

Now, if only I could find Mike Jittlov, so that I could get him to autograph the copy of this movie that I have.

[CriswellKOL]

I believe his address is still the same.

[wickkidda]

This never fails to brighten my day. The music along with the subliminal messages that Mike Jittlov uses, it makes any good person's eyes water with a satisfying feeling of justice. He turns dark into light, tanks into cars, stagnation into production, even an empty mailbox into a money bin. The underlying theme could only be matched by epic stories like Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and The Matrix... love is more powerful than greed and manipulation.

[hiroyukisakaifan69]

Wow, I must be responsible for at least 30 of the views of this video.

[nothernames12366]

clark kent??

[JohnConnor2029]

Dude, the guy who gave a 9.7 is Jittlov. This video is really awesome.

[ReverendSyn]

He's even wearing a jacket in the exact same color and fabric as thew Wizard's robes.

[CriswellKOL]

Why is Mike Jittlov "The Man in the Green Jacket"? Mike tells the story that he was in a store with a rack of superbright green jackets that the owner was having trouble selling, because they were superbright green. Mike asked, "How for ALL of them?" and so became "The Man In The Green Jacket."

[ReverendSyn]

Well that's pretty neat. I did not know that. The man truly is in a league of his own.

[CriswellKOL]

Mike has some awesome stories to tell, each one more amazing than the next, and all true!

[ReverendSyn]

Id heard he'd been hiking in europe during most of the 90s

[CriswellKOL]

I'm looking for that film, and I think it's called "The Hiking Viking"

[wickkidda]

dude you guys gotta let me know if this stuff is on video online cuz it sounds like hes a living legend

[CriswellKOL]

My channel has links to two bit torrents with the entire film, and several shorts by Mike, as well as his demo reel and a live show appearance at DragonCon. Please download one at a time.

[KrautGoesWild]

Why oh why isn´t this movie available on DVD???

[antimax]

The people who own the rights to it are sitting on the film, not doing anything with it. God knows why. They stole it from it's creator, Mike Jittlov. We should storm the building and steal the negatives!

[UC86]

Mike is an artistic genius extraordinaire and a very nice guy. I had the privelege of speaking to him a few years ago, and found him to be just as sweet as he is in the movie (same name as this short...The Wizard of Speed and Time). Keep up the good work, Mike...we're rooting for you!

[Crossroadsinc]

Every person I show it too says the same thing "How did he do that without computers"

It constantly amazes me exactly how much of a Genus this man is. The music, the motion, the effects. This man is what "Movie Magic" is truely all about.

Today, anyone can do flash wit ha computer, it takes a true artist to do what Mike did.

[buckaroohawk]

I remember seeing this at a sci-fi convention when I was a kid. The efects may be a bit dated now, but the pure, optimistic fun of this film still comes through. I'm glad it found its way here so I could see it again.

[bcostin]

Very cool. I remember seeing this back in the 80's on one of the cable networks, when they showed little shorts between the main shows. Thanks for posting it.

[mthai66]

This is to the original short what new the Phantom Menace is to A New Hope

[ReverendSyn]

Ah, so its a pretty decent followup then. Ive been with Star Wars since day one so I know what works and what doesnt. And the Prequels worked, not flawlessly of course but then the OT had considerable flaws too yet I still loved them.

But this short is a classic.

[fozzibab]

I've never seen this before, but it was absolutely brilliant. Wish I had this in hi-res.

[antdude]

Dudes, he is copying Flash.

[kobejonez]

Nope the Flash copied Jittlov, This predates the Flash by about 10 years.

[brucknoid]

I've done a tribute kind of clip to Wosat. It is my first attempt at anything of this nature. You can see it here if you are interested:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v­=x37hB2qCT48

[aldiakaroofus]

I remember seeing it on one of Dick Clark's TV shows in the early 80's.

[MugsySkull]

That was so much fun! I remember when it aired. It's just as refreshing now as it was then.

[nitesho]

Jittlov's love of film shines through every moment ,and the full length movie deserves a DVD break.. bit of trivia..Mike Jittlov was the spirit entity seen in the film GHOST.....

[sgtpepper2112]

mike has said that the masters are gone for the film, the company who put the movie out took them and ran then later went out of business, but he says he has an unplayed 35mm print. I read this (well my Interpretation of it) off of a post he did on the mike jittlov newsgroup about 5 years ago

[mvs4life]

This is one of my favorite all time movies. I had no idea it was made in 83. Mike Jittlov rules. That subliminal poster rules.

[mikelopedia]

Yeah! It's here twice! omolocom also put this up. Thanks so very much for all of your great Jittlov shorts.

[cdarkdreams]

Glad to see this posted! The movie has been a favorite of mine for a long time. I always wished Jittlov had done more.

[PDValentine]

What more could he do? It was old a week after it was made.

[antimax]

THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST AMAZING SHORT FILMS EVER!!! PLEASE WATCH THIS EVERYONE!!! No computers were used in the making of this short! Amazing!

[PDValentine]

It was boring over twenty years ago and even more so now...

[antimax]

No one else I have shown this to thinks it is boring. It blows everyone's mind that has seen it.

[kobejonez]

?!?! Are you retarded? ?!?!

Why boring? Clever, Patient and Awesome are probably better words.