Graduation 2015

Graduation 2015

Bob

Bob from Mirjam Leppers on Vimeo.

Checking Bob

Sometimes you can get a little bit lost in checking an online profile.

Little preview of animation.

Inbetween shot

A portait shot inbetween two shoots last week.

Selfie | let's take a selfie

Fight Club

People were boxing at the Loods in Enschede where I was around to shoot some pictures.

Green light | presentation

Green light | showreel from Mirjam Leppers on Vimeo.

Friday 23th January I've held my 'Greenlight presentation' for teachers and students in order to get a 'green light' for my graduation, which took place in Concordia Enschede. I've showed a little showreel to support my talk and a slideshow about my travel through the course and working up to my graduation idea. Here's a small text which sums up a bit what I talked about:

Loads of imagery, loads of ideas. 
I tell my stories through imagery, but today I'll talk about it.In the first year of the AKI, which was an orientation year,  
I couldn't be happier with what was offered to me, painting, sculpture, drawing, video , photo shopping etc. 

Great, but that did made me doubt until the ultimate day which course I wanted to do.
 I wanted as much freedom, in material and media-choice, themes and ideas. 
I chose to do Sculpture.Which I did for half year, experimenting with different material and subjects, combining and tasting,
which was really nice for getting to know different techniques and material. 

It didn't make me as happy though. I missed something essential, a rhythm maybe, and inducement, a question or problem?


Then there was something as ACD on the AKI, Art & Crossmedia design. Which, in that time, was spoken about with some fine-arters a little bit as:

                           "That's just making logos right? Corporate identities?"

                                                    "Do whatever a client wants?"

                          "Being ubergood in photoshop?"

                                                    "You do earn lots of money with it tough..."

                          "How can you develop a signature with that?"


Well, was I mistaken. When I switched to ACD, a world opened up to me, just as much media freedom and material choices,
 but we had questions or problems that we had to solve.

Where it didn't ever matter as much what the question was,
 coming up with an idea for a jewelry commercial,
programming a flash game and designing the concept for it,
making a hand drawn animation starting with nothing.. etc.

Over the three years I had loads of fun experimenting with media,
 getting new assignments every week and let a process go on that.
I discovered that my fascination isn't in being able to use all the media that I want and practice,
 but to choose the right medium for the question. 
Although I also believe that there is no perfect solution to a 'design' question, only a suited one.

Last half year I tried to discover what my point of view is and clarify that,
by looking into some more critical and political subjects with my dissertation,
film minor, working with dogma and identity research.

This was my story, and now for my graduation I'm going to look in other stories.For my graduation I'm going to look into the column, IK@NRC, a daily column with little personal anecdotes of readers, and translate that into imagery. Loads of imagery, loads of ideas and translations Where I'm going to use all the expertise in from the last years that I gained, my view and signature and as always: let the process guide me and let that frame the end-result.

Slides used during my talk.

Redo Expositon | Icarus

Group Expostion in Tetem II of the redo assignment, where I chose to redo a  Icarus triptych photoshoot I created 2 years ago. This semester I experimented with different assets of the story, considered making a new modern interpretation of the morals that go in the story of Icarus. Experimenting with moving image and photography and possibilities of the triptych. In the end this project resulted in a different triptych, 3x3 photographs on wood, where every picture has a symbolic asset of the story. In the overview picture you see work of my fellow students.

Memory & Dogma | minor film II

Memory & Dogma from Mirjam Leppers on Vimeo.

With film I tend to use subjects that provoke me: Little stimuli that make me have a magical moment.  Many of my interests revolve around nostalgia. Although nostalgia means more to me then a desire to obtain something you cannot relive twice. Nostalgia is reliving that same feeling you had when you think back of something, or more likely, get hit by an event that triggers the same feeling.  Although it’s not the exact same moment, I believe you cannot, not speak of nostalgia if you can replace the same feeling you had with a new event. Supposedly nostalgia as a memory can’t be described as a time-bound occasion. 

-         In a way everybody has their own working method and maybe even rules that you live up to while working, I was wondering if mine would block me in a way to develop further as a film producer.
 Or keeping me from portraying events as i want them to.

-         I feel like my work is produced more as a prey then a predator. I tend to get really close to a object without provoking it. I watch and look, wait and carefully look for the right ingredients to use. I don’t judge. I want to bring content to the surface as it should be, or as i believe it should be portrayed.

-         My classmates assigned me with 5 absolute rules to work with, challenging with me to stay away from familiar guidelines.
5 rules to live up too.  Not really a problem, as I like the challenge.


Memory & Dogma
Bas is quite the eccentric figure who loves to talk, especially at the  first meeting you’ll have with him. He’ll try to impress you with his 'dominant' presence and wants to take control of the room. Once  you’ll give him the space to talk though, he’ll share his views and thoughts.
With an interview that went in many directions, I was hoping for different reactions and different emotions, confusion maybe or defensiveness, which he tends to do. Keeping my working method in mind though: I’m not forcing, I’m just asking and watching.

"If you have limitations to your work, you're forced to use your imagination".

Lars von Trier

Lumen | Lights and projection

With participating at the minor Still Moving this year, it all resolves around the thin line of moving and still image. Getting loads of theoretical and philosophical input, while trying to reflect these views into your own work. The challenge with this little experimental video was to look at Aleph, by Wallace Berman and use his way of converting `still into motion`. Short montage, uses of the Verifax and still as moving. 

My interpretation revolves around the theme: lights in the dark. As seeing little lights in the dark, especially when travelling makes me at ease, comforting still. I always volunteered as a little kid to accompany my dad driving if he needed to do that, just to watch. Also, I'm looking into projecting image in different ways.

Development of the Moon

Experimental photoshoot with the goal to tell a story in 11 pictures. My inspiration was the different phases of the moon 

Still

Unseen | photographic poster

Suggestion of a poster design for the photo fair Unseen in Amsterdam, which shows work of upcoming photographers. I had the idea of picturing the photographer, anonymously. The result here is from working with alot of different mirrors and long shutterspeed.

Portrait

Zaandam Kogerveld