Mike Jittlov (born June 8, 1948) is an American animator and the creator of short films and one feature-length film using forms of
special effects animation
Special effects (often abbreviated as SFX, F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the imagined events in a story or virtual wor ...
, including
stop-motion animation
Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...
,
rotoscoping
Rotoscoping is an animation technique that animators use to trace over motion picture footage, frame by frame, to produce realistic action. Originally, animators projected photographed live-action movie images onto a glass panel and traced ov ...
, and
pixilation
Pixilation is a stop motion technique in which live actors are used as a frame-by-frame subject in an animated film, by repeatedly posing while one or more frame is taken and changing pose slightly before the next frame or frames. The actor beco ...
. He is best known for the 1988 feature-length film ''
The Wizard of Speed and Time
''The Wizard of Speed and Time'' is a 1988 low-budget feature film written, directed, and starring animator Mike Jittlov, as well as a 1979 16 mm short film, also by Jittlov.
1979 short film
In the original short film, a young man in a green w ...
'', based on his 1979 short film of the same name.
Life
Born in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, Jittlov became a math major at
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
. Jittlov took an animation course to satisfy his art requirement. He made a
super-8
Super 8 mm film is a motion-picture film format released in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement over the older "Double" or "Regular" 8 mm home movie format.
The film is nominally 8 mm wide, the same as older formatted 8& ...
film, ''The Leap'', enlarged to
16mm
16 mm film is a historically popular and economical gauge of film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, educ ...
to participate in film festivals in the early 1970s. Jittlov entered a 16mm film made for his UCLA class, ''Good Grief'', into
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
competition. That short made it to the professional finals for nomination, the first of several of his short films to do so. Afterwards, Jittlov bought his own 16mm camera, designed his own
multiplane
The multiplane camera is a motion-picture camera that was used in the traditional animation process that moves a number of pieces of artwork past the camera at various speeds and at various distances from one another. This creates a sense of par ...
animation system for $200, and began his career.
Some of his other original film shorts, including ''The Interview'', ''Swing Shift'', ''Animato'', and ''Time Tripper'' (released separately and as a collection called ''
Animato
''Animato'' is a compilation of short films by Mike Jittlov, making extensive use of stop motion, pixilation, kinestasis, animation, and multiple exposures. It features the films ''The Interview'', ''Swing Shift'', ''Rocketman'', ''The Leap'', ' ...
'') won many top awards and repeat film festival screenings, bringing him to the attention of The
Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...
Studio. In 1978, Jittlov co-starred on Disney's two-hour TV extravaganza, "
Mickey's 50
"Mickey's 50" is a 1978 television special honouring the 50-year anniversary of the debut of Walt Disney's animated character Mickey Mouse. The show aired on NBC on November 19, 1978, one day after Mickey's official birthday, as a special 90-minu ...
", with the short film "Mouse Mania", creating and animating the first stop-motion
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon Character (arts), character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red sho ...
, along with 1,000 other Disney toys marching around a psychiatrist's office. The short is now featured on the Disney DVD ''Mickey Mouse in Living Color, Volume Two''. Since Disney did not usually allow individual creators to receive credit on their television productions (preferring a generic thanks to "the many Disney animators who made this possible") Mike put his and partner Deven Cheregino's name on the toys in the final production number, where they could not be easily edited out.
In late 1979, he co-starred again on Disney's ''Major Effects'' television special – this time introducing the world to the green-robed "Wizard of Speed and Time" via the short film version. With an improved soundtrack, the short was released to 16mm film collectors in 1980, along with four of his other short films.
Jittlov also created the inaugural short film played on the
cable TV
Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broadc ...
Disney Channel
Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...
. It featured an animated satellite shaped like Mickey Mouse's head, which was later reproduced for the special features of the DVD version of Disney's 1937 film, ''
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as T ...
''. The Mickey Satellite film played to park-goers waiting in line at
Space Mountain
Space Mountain is a space-themed indoor roller coaster attraction located at five of the six Disneyland-style Disney Parks. Although all five versions of the attraction are different in nature, all have a similar conical exterior façade that is ...
for years, and is still shown to
Walt Disney Parks and Resorts
Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, Inc., formerly Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. and informally known as Disney Parks, is one of The Walt Disney Company's five major business segments and a subsidiary. It was founded on Apri ...
employees during orientation. The prop was also used in a scene in ''The Wizard of Speed and Time''.
Jittlov is best known for his feature film ''
The Wizard of Speed and Time
''The Wizard of Speed and Time'' is a 1988 low-budget feature film written, directed, and starring animator Mike Jittlov, as well as a 1979 16 mm short film, also by Jittlov.
1979 short film
In the original short film, a young man in a green w ...
'', which he directed and starred in. The film did poorly in theaters but has established a
cult following
A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...
since its release on videotape and laserdisc. It can often be found online. It is known for being self-referential.
He later worked as a special effects technician on the film ''
Ghost
A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...
'', and in fan films including ''
Darth Vader's Psychic Hotline
''Darth Vader's Psychic Hotline'' is a fan film that made its debut on the Internet on April 16, 2002, created by fans of the '' Star Wars'' franchise. It is a spoof of '' Star Wars'' and Miss Cleo-type psychic hotline infomercials, with Darth V ...
''.
Jittlov maintains a distinctive appearance at
science fiction convention
Science fiction conventions are gatherings of fans of the speculative fiction genre, science fiction. Historically, science fiction conventions had focused primarily on literature, but the purview of many extends to such other avenues of expres ...
s by wearing his traditional green jacket and green shoes, similar to the ones seen in ''The Wizard of Speed and Time''. He was an early Internet user, with his own website, and frequent poster to his own
Usenet
Usenet () is a worldwide distributed discussion system available on computers. It was developed from the general-purpose Unix-to-Unix Copy (UUCP) dial-up network architecture. Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979, and it was ...
group, alt.fan.mike-jittlov. He is also a prolific practitioner of
origami
) is the Japanese paper art, art of paper folding. In modern usage, the word "origami" is often used as an inclusive term for all folding practices, regardless of their culture of origin. The goal is to transform a flat square sheet of pape ...
.
References
External links
*
*
Mike Jittlov's ''The Wizard of Speed and Time'': His Life's a Special Effect!Night Flight
"We're off to see the Wizard: An Interview with Mike Jittlov by Kent Hill"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jittlov, Mike
1948 births
Living people
American animated film directors
American animators
Disney people
Special effects people
Stop motion animators