Saturday night

dir. Emma Ziegelmeir (2025)

“Kimberly, you know how I feel about having too much testosterone in the room on a Saturday Night... one is usually too… much”
— Jennifer

Meet the Saturday Night Team

  • A woman with long brown hair smiling outdoors in front of a modern building with glass and metal structures.

    Emma Ziegelmeir

    Director / Writer

  • A young woman with shoulder-length hair, hoop earrings, and a beige zip-up hoodie standing outdoors on a city street with cars and a modern building with glass and metal architecture in the background.

    Selena Villiers

    Director of Photography / Writer

  • Smiling young man wearing a black hoodie outdoors. Background includes trees, a building, and a truck.

    Finn Scott

    Producer

  • A young woman with long dark hair, wearing a white headband, cream blouse with a bow, and a black textured blazer with decorative buttons, standing outdoors in an urban setting with cars and a building in the background.

    Amy Cao

    Production Designer

  • Smiling young man with glasses and a dark T-shirt standing outdoors with modern building and trees in the background.

    Thomas Sadhani

    Editor

  • A young woman with long brown hair smiling outdoors in front of a building with a billboard and a truck.

    Erika Godjali

    Sound Designer

Camera Operating/ 1st ac

During production, I was working extensively with the rest of the camera team and the DOP to quickly and most efficiently capture all the scenes and shots for the film.

Working in a 3-day filming block, we had a tight filming schedule, and so over the course of production, we had learnt and gotten better at saving time and moving faster, whilst maintaining proper safety procedures and standard practices.

I got to use the University provided Sony FX6 camera body with the 6 piece Athena Prime Lens kit. Getting even more familiar with the camera’s software and the hardware was key to maximising time on set and spending less time setting up for the shot. 

Two crew members filming a scene with a professional camera, closely focusing on a person lying on a bed, in an indoor setting.
Two people working together on a film or video shoot, one operating a camera and the other observing.
A man operating a professional video camera on a tripod, with a woman smiling in the background in a room with a wooden ceiling and white walls.
A film crew is filming in a kitchen, with a woman wearing headphones holding a boom microphone towards two people who are working with a camera and a laptop.
Group of five young adults in a bedroom, some sitting on the bed and others standing, engaged in an activity. The room has collage-style wall art and string lights.
Three young people in a kitchen looking at and discussing a document.
Two men operating a professional cinema camera on a film set with studio lighting.
Three young men standing on a patio, smiling at the camera, giving thumbs-up gestures, with a sliding glass door, brick wall, and outdoor furniture in the background.
Three young men on a film set holding a clapperboard inside a cozy room with wooden ceiling and bookshelves.
Screenshot of a Mac Finder window displaying the folder structure for a project named Saturday Night, with subfolders labeled AUDIO and VIDEO, and a progress bar showing copying of 400 items with 1.35 GB of data.
Three people sitting on a dark couch in a cozy living room, with one person styling the other's hair, all enjoying a relaxed moment. One person is holding a paper, the second person is laughing and holding some papers, and the third person is smiling while sitting on the armrest. The room has white shelves filled with books and decorative items, and warm lighting.
Screenshot of a computer folder directory showing video folders for a Saturday Night event, including folders labeled 01 S1 through 07 TITLE CARD and DAY 1 through DAY 3, with dates in April 2025.

Data Wrangling and Management

After each shoot day, the sound designer and I would spend an extra hour going over the footage shot throughout the day, ensuring it was all correct and accounted for before transferring to our SSD’s. Along with our drives, our director also provided us with her drive to save data onto, to ensure that all footage gets saved on at least 3 separate devices at 3 different locations.

Additionally, to make the team's post production process easier in the long run, I did research on the most efficient industry standard film management and naming system to implement into this project. This was extremely helpful for not just myself, during the process of syncing rushes or assembling rough cuts, but also for the rest of the team, as the self explanatory system made transferring the project to the sound designer a much simpler process.

Screenshot of video editing software with a scene of a man lying on the floor, appearing to be injured with blood on his shirt, while someone holds a knife close to him.

Editing

The editing process was the longest segment of this project for myself. We had finished shooting by April 3rd 2025, and we didn’t achieve picture lock until the 21st of May.

During this time, firstly I worked closely with the director to first assemble the rough cut. This included syncing the rushes for the best takes, organising a loose timeline, and essentially being able to tell a complete story through the film.

The next step was to take the rough cut, and assemble a fine cut. This was to be a more refined edit of the film which would include a lot more fine tuning and adjusting. This step was where most of the pacing was improved, the dialogue scenes were tightened up, and continuity errors were spotted and fixed.

A video editing software interface showing a scene with lit candles surrounding a book titled "The Veil of Womanhood" by Emma Ziegler, a candle in a glass jar, a pair of sunglasses, a vintage necklace, and a decorative object on a table.

Colour Grading

After achieving picture lock, assets were handed over to the sound designer to finalise the track, and the visuals were taken to be colour graded. Using the UTS colour grading facilities, myself, the director, and DOP spent 3 days going through all the shots and colour correcting and grading each one.

This was a very new process for me, having never professionally graded a film before or used DaVinci Resolve, however, I picked up the skills necessary quite quickly, and very much enjoyed the process of grading. It was incredibly rewarding and surprising how much the film could change through the colours. 

A young man with dark hair and pale skin looking down in a dimly lit room.
Close-up of two women with dark hair, one in focus and the other blurred, looking contemplative in a dimly lit setting.

Before

Young man with dark hair, wearing a white shirt and black jacket, illuminated by computer screen light in a dimly lit room.
Two women with dark hair and makeup, one in the foreground with a serious expression, and a blurred woman in the background, both in dim lighting.

after

Person working at a desk with three monitors in a dark room, illuminated by the screens and a floor lamp.
A video editing workspace with dual monitors, one displaying editing software and the other showing a scene with three people in a cozy, well-lit room, and a hands-on control panel below the monitors.
Video editing setup with three monitors displaying editing software and a video of a woman

Credits

  • Kimberly - AASH MYERS

    Jennifer - ELLA PURDON

    Michael - DION RHYS

    Scott - NICHOLAS OH


  • Director - EMMA ZIEGELMEIR

    Screenplay Writer - EMMA ZIEGELMEIR & SELENA VILLIERS

    Producer - FINN SCOTT

    Director of Photography - SELENA VILLIERS

    Production Designer - AMY CAO

    Editor - THOMAS SADHANI

    Sound Designer - ERIKA GODJALI

  • Production Manager - FINN SCOTT

    Script Supervisor/Continuity - ALANAH TRIPI

    1st AD - FINN SCOTT

    Hair Stylist - EMMA ZIEGELMEIR

    Makeup Artist - JOYCE TANG & JESSICA SUPALA

    Special Effects Artist - JOYCE TANG

    Visual Effects Artist - THOMAS SADHANI & EMMA ZIEGELMEIR

    Colourist - THOMAS SADHANI

    Costume Designer - AMY CAO

    BTS Photographer - LAUREN CHEN

  • Camera Operator - THOMAS SADHANI & TYRELL ESPIRITU

    1st Camera Assistant - THOMAS SADHANI

    2nd Camera Assistant - KAILE BENNET

    Gaffer - LAUREN CHEN & KAILE BENNET

  • JENNIFER’S THEME:

    Composed & Produced by VIOLETA SHARLENE

    RUNS IN YOUR BLOOD:

    Composed & Produced by CLARA ROSIANDY & VIOLETA SHARLENE

    SATURDAY NIGHT MAIN THEME:

    Composed & Produced by NICHOLAS WIJAYA

    Vocals by OTNIEL KARISMA

    Backing Vocals by OTNIEL KARISMA, NICHOLAS WIJAYA, LANA JOY TIFFANIE, VIOLETA SHARLENE

    Drum & Bass by NICHOLAS WIJAYA

    Guitar by SEBASTIAN BAYU

    Synth by VIOLETA SHARLENE

    Mixed by NICHOLAS WIJAYA

    Mastered by SEBASTIAN BAYU

    Recorded at DOVALATOS STUDIO