#the wizard of speed and time

[haveyouseenthismovie-poll]

[80smovies]

[preventthefuture]

Late career horseshit from Mike Jittlov.

[gleaningcontext]

I was starting write a whole lead in but

You like wizards right? And practical effects? How about stop motion?

The Wizard of Speed And Time by Mike Jittlov

I promise it's an hour and a half well spent

[junipercalle]

I. Didn't know there was a song about this guy! Mike Jittlov. Other than the song he has in his video, I mean.

[iamthespineofmybook]

As my previous post intimates, I haven't gotten very far in House of Leaves yet, but I think one of the main reasons I'm enjoying it so much is the meta-ness of it. The fact that it's a horror story about a horror story that takes advantage of its format, rather than being just another spooky tale.

It's like my favourite movie, The Wizard of Speed and Time. It's a movie about how hard it is for main character Mike Jittlov to get the movie he wants to make made because of various obstacles Hollywood puts in his way. The special effects of the movie all add something to it, even the cheesy ones, and you find out at the end that the entire movie was, in fact, the movie Mike's been trying to get made all movie.

[adamwatchesmovies]

The Wizard of Speed and Time (1989)

There will never be another film like The Wizard of Speed and Time. Even if Mike Jittlov hopped in a time machine, reassembled the original cast, used the same equipment, the same locations and shot the film using the same techniques on the same budget, it could never be duplicated. Difficult to track down unless you know where to find it - at which point it becomes ridiculously easy to view - it’s got that “lightning in a bottle” quality.

Based on his original short film, writer, cinematographer, animator, composer Mike Jittlov plays himself as he attempts to create a short film highlighting his DIY special effects techniques for a TV network special. He’s a complete unknown and more than a little odd, prompting the executives to place a bet on whether Jittlov will meet the deadline.

A childlike sense of enthusiasm, giddiness and pleasant naivete radiates from every frame of The Wizard of Speed and Time. As you might’ve guessed, Mike Jittlov is essentially playing himself. He creates and then sells the film he made in 1979 to a system which has stomped all potential for off-the-wall thinkers and radicals with its unions, business models and rules. He’s ambitious and gullible. Of course making a movie isn’t as easy as he expects it to be. Although the obstacles standing in his way are recognizable to us onlookers as completely necessary - although perhaps a little restrictive - he nonetheless brings you to his side. You want nothing more than for him to overcome the odds and show the world what wild abandon can do.

You know the movie is going to get made because you’re watching the movie the real-life Mike Jittlov made. This makes his triumphs feel like your own. The meta aspect turns The Wizard of Speed and Time into an experience rather than a story you simply watch. If he can make his dream come true, so can you. You can “see the strings” in all of the special effects sequences - that’s to say you know how they were done - but it doesn’t matter. Your jaw drops seeing them because you know this man did it all on his own. More than that; he invented the techniques. Particularly striking is the stop-motion animation - the best of which features Jittlov himself as the titular Wizard.

This picture is inspirational and hilarious. It’s big and wild and colourful and cheerful and clever. Watch it a half-dozen times and I bet you’ll still discover previously unseen jokes tucked away in the corners of the screen. Rather than self-congratulating and self-important, it’s a humble little picture that never takes itself too seriously and takes every opportunity to make fun of how crazy it is.

The number of successful gags makes the film’s lack of a proper DVD release even more disappointing. You want to be able to pause and take a look at what’s written on those sheets of paper on the wall in the background, or turn on subtitles to make sure you don’t miss a thing while the room is filled with laughter. Be honest; you’d never heard of this movie before and it’s largely faded away… except to the die-hard fans who, frustrated with the studio’s utter lack of enthusiasm when it came to a new home release, created a version you can find online - all with Jitlov's approval.

The Wizard of Speed and Time isn’t just a movie. It’s has romance, humour, likeable characters, crowd scenes, chase scenes, special effects, etc. but they're used in wholly original ways. To watch it is to open up an old cardboard box in your attic and rediscover your favourite toy all over again. (On VHS, May 10, 2019)

[thecurioustale]

The Wizard of Speed and Time: A cult classic film with special effects in practically every shot, but it's from the '80s...

At one point during Desert Bus this year, they got to talking about the Jittlov Font and its legendary readme file. (I looked at it; it's interesting, but it's not legendary. Back then, stuff that we all do regularly could make quite a stir due to its novelty on the Internet.)

Eventually, they got to talking about how its creator, Mike Jittlov, also made a movie. Like, an honest-to-goodness feature film that was released in theaters. They mentioned that Jittlov was a special effects artist by trade, and had done some work for Disney, and that his movie had special effects in virtually every shot.

Today, with our overproduced, CGI-heavy, do-it-all-in-post film production paradigm, we take that for granted. I remember George Lucas smugly joking about how he put one shot in The Phantom Menace that had no special effects work just for nostalgia's sake. But with The Wizard of Speed and Time this has a very different meaning: His film, being from the '80s after all, used almost entirely practical special effects—usually animation (e.g. stop motion), but definitely not limited just to that. The Desert Bus peeps mentioned how Jittlov did a scene where he's underwater in a pool for several minutes, and how that actually happened for real: It's one continuous camera shot, and Jittlov has no breathing equipment. He just held his breath for several minutes. (One of the few perks of being skinny, I suppose.) The film features a very wide showcase of different types of special effects. A little of everything that existed at the time, honestly.

The Wizard of Speed and Time is on YouTube for free (with the tacit consent of Jittlov himself), and over the weekend I finally got around to watching it!

I almost didn't make it out of the gate. Jittlov's editing style is horrifyingly frenetic. The camera cuts are almost constant (notwithstanding that pool scene). The opening of the film is very disjointed, and on first viewing it's hard to know for sure when the credits end and the movie proper begins. The pacing is just so, so fast, and this warps everything. I almost turned it off immediately, and it wasn't until the 12-minute mark that I paused, had a think, and decided that I would indeed commit to watching the rest of it.

Having watched it, I can say that I'm glad I did! This is one of those rare films that's worth watching purely for the special effects. The story and plot are very basic. The acting is not world-class. The music is charming at points but ultimately forgettable. The cinematography as I mentioned is uncomfortably frenetic. But the craftsmateship of filling almost every camera shot in the movie with special effects is something worth seeing for its own sake. It's a tour-de-force and there's nothing else like it that I know of. It's a real "museum piece," if that makes sense.

The effects work is all done not only expertly but very lovingly. In fact, I would say the other main strength of the film is its theme of preserving and celebrating the humanity in industry. In the movie, Jittlov portrays the motion picture industry in Hollywood as largely soulless, and presents this soullessness as the true antagonist of the story. There's also some anti-tax and anti-union stuff in there under similar auspices, with the IRS billed as the "Infernal" Revenue Service; but, despite being pro-tax and pro-union myself, it's easy to see where Jittlov was coming from, and that he was doing so in good faith.

Jittlov made this movie on a tiny budget by doing most of the work himself. He directed, did the special effects, played the starring character, etc. His name shows up in the credits frequently. Even still, the film was a box office flop, and I can understand why. But I will say that the film delivers splendidly on its implicit promise built up in the plot of showing us the special effects work that Jittlov's character is working on. We do get to see it by the end, and actually that whole sequence is an adaptation of a short film Jittlov had done in the '70s.

I like people like Jittlov. I'm one of them, myself. Very much a mate of his own mold. Very passionate. Artistically driven. Wants to believe in a better world but is oppressed by the current one. I feel better about myself for having given his movie a chance. We should all be so lucky as to have people bear witness to our work!

He was an early user of the public Internet, and his website, Mike Jittlov's WizWorld, is still online. It's a time capsule of what the Internet looked like 25 years ago, which I find immensely refreshing and also filled with cultural curios I'd forgotten about, like how he has a list of quotes on one of his pages. Just quotes that he happened to like, and gathered them all up. That used to be a popular thing to do on websites! That Internet was a lot nicer than this one, in many respects.

[visplay]

Chris: The Wizard of Speed and Time is a rare low budget 1980’s biography / comedy / musical about a man trying to get into show business by making a film with incredible effects including stop motion animation, based on a popular short Night Film film, this film might be liked by those who like Pee Wee Herman, neat effects and well worth watching, Watch: When Free.

Richie: I thought it was a lot of fun, very entertaining, Watch: When Free

[yesterdanereviews]

The Wizard of Speed and Time (1988)

Film review #625

Director: Mike Jittlov

SYNOPSIS: Mike is a stop-motion special effects artist who is trying to make it in Hollywood and get his screenplay produced. When his script catches the eye of some executives, they hire him to work on a feature for them, but being executives, they also make a bet on whether he can actually pull it off. Mike has to somehow assemble a crew and get his film done in the hopes of being paid...

THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: The Wizard of Speed and Time is a 1988 semi-biographical film. Directed, written, produced, and just about everything else by Mike Jittlov, the film stars Mike Jittlov as Mike Jittlov (surprisingly), a special effects artist who is trying to make it in Hollywood. He gets his big break when some Hollywood executives task him with producing a feature. However, the execs make a bet with each other that he will not be able to complete it in time, so Mike must navigate that trials and tribulations of making a film in Hollywood to get it done on time. The film is an expansion of the short film of the same name, which was a showcase of some really creative stop-motion effects, and wrapping a semi-biographical story around it. The story is a fairly simple one, which takes swipes at the Hollywood film industry, as well as showcasing the frustrations Jittlov himself experienced in the industry. Despite that, it never feels bitter or defeated: the humour is quick-paced and sharp enough in it's satire that it pokes fun without being mean-spirited. Also, the focus of the film is ultimately in it's stop-motion scenes and effects that triumph over any negativity, expressed through statements of affirmation and positivity hidden within the sequences. This is also the message of the film in general as well: that the making of films, and the creativity, outshines any attempt by the film industries machines to dismantle creativity in favour of profit. The main story about Mike must making a film is a bit bland in isolation, but you can't really judge the film solely based on that: it would be like judging Jaws solely based on all the non-shark scenes. All the different elements of the film are weaved together well, and there's just an overall sense of fun and passion that shines through.

Packed full of little references and jokes that keep the film interesting, and never losing that personal touch, The Wizard of Speed and Time delivers something unique. It avoids the trap a lot of films mostly made by one person of being too self-indulgent and inward looking, but oddly enough, I think this is one of the most personal films of this type I have seen. It is reminiscent of Fellini's 8½ in a lot of ways, but rather than being a surrealist tour-de-force of the filmmaker, The Wizard of Speed and Time is a lighthearted, celebratory look at filmmaking rooted in it's time, with that 80's flair and synth-driven soundtrack that capture the feeling of 80's Los Angeles. Some of the humour gets a bit too involved with the intricacies of the industry, including union rules and the use of film reels, but these aren't too much of a problem.

Spending ten years in production, Jittlov refused any financial backing for this film that would have meant sacrificing any of his vision, and I highly respect that. The making of the film reflects the actual making of the film too, and it's this constant weave of real-life and fiction, interspersed with these explosions of creativity, which makes it so captivating. Apart from the special effects, you've got Jittlov doing some intense stunts, such as one scene where he spends two minutes underwater in a pool, which he actually did by holding his breath. The more you realise how much is authentic and done by hand or without stunt doubles, the more you appreciate the film as a whole. Maybe if you've got no interest in filmmaking or the creative process, then this film might pass you by, but I genuinely enjoyed all aspects of it, and it rises above the pitfalls of other films mainly produced by one person on zero budget with it's quick-witted humour and fun visuals.

[katsinspats]

Thematically appropriate comic for Make a Terrible Comic Day!!

I saw the original post this morning and it made me get out of bed to make something, so thank u Pseudonym Jones mission accomplished

[bet-on-me-13]

Danny has to work off his Sentence

So! Danny isn't the King of the Infinite Realms. And he is not above the Law.

Sure, he has many friends in high places, and he did defeat the King in single combat, but that doesn't mean he is above the Law in the way The King would be.

And unfortunately for him, Walkers Laws do actually have some backing.

Not all of them. Some are just laws he placed over his Lair and surrounding Territory, which he is really nitpicky about, but the Big ones he touts are the Laws of the entire Zone set by the First King. Don't Tresspass on Lairs without an official challenge, don't End a Realms Being without permission, Don't bring Humans into the Zone without permission, etc.

And Danny has broken quite a few of them, meaning Walker is entirely in his rights to put him away for a few Thousand Years. Thankfully, there is an alternative.

Since Danny wasn't wanted for any major crimes, Walker offered a different path for him. Danny was still one of the Strongest Ghosts in the Zone, and as the Portal was technically his Grave he had full authority to use it however he liked, so if he ran a couple of errands for Walker, he could consider his Sentence served.

All he has to do was round up a few of the Trouble Makers that had escaped his grasp by virtue of being in the Living Realm, and he would forgive his previous crimes.

So, Danny took him up on the offer. It was better than being constantly hounded by Walkers Guards. The fact that he could beat them easily was moot, it was extremely annoying and he wanted it to stop.

So he was given his First list of targets, and went on his way.

Ra's "The Demons Head" Al Ghul, for Tresspassing on Ghost Zone Waste Dumping Grounds

Solomon Grundy, for continued use of copyrighted poem, requested by copyright holder post mortem

Vandal Savage, for failure to notify the proper authorities about his absence on the day of his intended death

Jack "The Joker" Napier, Special Request by 1000+ Ghosts for purposes of Vengeance, Torture, and general Catharsis.

...interesting list...maybe he should have this through a bit more...

[nabhx]

returning to my roots for mental health reasons

[steamclouds]

Finished the Hunter's Blade trilogy last week and spent the last couple days catching up on reading the Sellsword trilogy because I skipped them... just finished Servant of the Shard and......damn

[kenhowler2004]

OKAY I GOT IT MAXED OUT FOR NOW MY USER AND BADGES LINES UP ABUSE THE BUTTON ON ME IF YOU MUST BECAUSE I'M PRETTY SURE AN EVIL WIZARD WANTS ME DEAD FOR BEING THE MOST ANNOYING RABBIT LIKE FAMILIAR OUT THERE BECAUSE I DIDN'T STICK TO LAUNDERING FOR THE BASE 1K

[lordsardine]

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well the fic is getting somewhere

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