Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce member Tanami has been acquired by worldwide integrated marketing and media group Cello Signal.

Tanami, founded in 2013 by Managing Director Jemma Goba, specialises in the production of high-quality video, combined with social media strategy and management. The company has been a member of the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce for two years.

Tanami’s diverse portfolio of clients includes St Columba’s Hospice, Burness Paull, The Royal College of Nursing, Hibernian Football Club and Scottish Rugby.

Under the terms of the deal Tanami will remain a self-contained unit operating from its Hanover Street base and reporting directly to Cello Signal’s Scotland Managing Partner Richard Marsham.

Jemma Goba said: “It’s exactly four years to the day since Tanami opened its doors. We will continue to service our loyal client base who will only benefit from this news.”

“Over the last 12 months we’ve put some sharp thinking into a five-year strategy to strengthen our creative and technical offering. Becoming part of such a respected, innovative group will accelerate these plans. My team and I couldn’t be more excited about this next step.”

Richard Marsham said: “We’re delighted to welcome Jemma and her team into the Cello Signal fold. Her team will help fill the ever-increasing need for quick turnaround film content.”

Cello Signal, a division of pharmaceutical and marketing specialists Cello Group Plc, owns award-winning agencies including Edinburgh-based The Leith Agency, Signal and Stripe Communications and employs more than 500 people in its offices in Edinburgh, London, Cheltenham, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Singapore. Cello Group employs more than 1000 people worldwide.

Students from Queen Margaret University (QMU) are preparing to put their creative talents in the spotlight as part of the University’s annual Film & Media Degree Show at Edinburgh’s Flimhouse, Lothian Road, on Monday 10th July from 8.30pm.

The showcase event will present work from QMU’s second, third and fourth year Film and Media students, including a wonderfully varied selection of short dramas, documentaries and music videos.

Nine short films made by QMU’s Film and Media students have made it through to this year’s line-up, covering a diverse range of subjects and genres, including documentaries on artists and local activists, the story of an immigrant escaping to a better life and dramas about racial tension, mother and daughter relationships and winning the lottery.

Graham Drysdale, Lecturer in Screenwriting, Digital Filmmaking and Media Production at QMU, said: “We’re really grateful to Edinburgh’s Filmhouse for providing our students with a platform to showcase their creative talents once again this year.

“Our Film and Media Degree Show is always a highlight in the QMU calendar as it provides a platform for us to celebrate creativity, as well as allowing students to unveil films they have worked on over the last year. It’s important to our students to see their work on the big screen. There’s nothing like hearing and seeing an audience respond to your film in the way you hoped when you first conceived of the idea.”

Special prizes will be awarded to the best films on the night.

Many of the films have been generously supported through QMU’s ‘Become a Producer Initiative’. Donations from the University’s friends and graduates provide much needed production expenses for QMU’s talented student filmmakers, allowing them to purchase costumes, hire equipment or travel to film on location. Supporters are credited at the end of all films.

A limited number of free tickets for the event are available for QMU students and staff online at https://mgrant18.wixsite.com/qmuscreening2017. For more information, email: mgrant1@qmu.ac.uk

Additional public tickets can be purchased from Edinburgh’s Filmhouse by calling 0131 228 2688 or online at www.filmhousecinema.com

Queen Margaret University film and media students have been spreading their own special brand of happiness around local businesses and across the global, as part of their ‘Working in the Media’ module.

Each year, the QMU students undertake a project with external clients which involves the production of a media product such as a film, website or social media campaign.  Often the client is a small business, charity or community group, some of which don’t have the expertise needed to produce specialist promotional media. The result is therefore a win-win situation – our students gain excellent practical and technical experience working on a live project, and the client gets a high quality promotional tool.

2nd year students on the BA (Hons) Film and Media degree, Siril Borgersen, Anine Rygg and Sophia Saheicha, teamed up with Clifton Hall School in Edinburgh this Easter to create an energetic short video set to the chart-topping single ‘Happy’ by singer Pharrell Williams’.

The fun film ‘Clifton Hall Does Happy’ demonstrates the dancing skills of staff and students at the school and has such a great feel-good factor, that it is now being used on the institution’s website and YouTube to show people what a happy school it is.

The feel-good factor has already spread beyond Scotland with many views taking place in California. The school has been able to identify that ‘Clifton Hall Does Happy’ has been viewed by staff at Stanford University in California!

The foot-tapping video has also generated enquiries from parents interested in enrolling their children at Clifton Hall School and into its ‘happy’ environment.

To watch ‘Clifton Hall Does Happy’ visit: www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0TbLjYLQrU

Another group of film and media students has teamed up with an East Lothian home improvement network to help it attract more members and to give its social and digital media presence a boost.

The REdesign network offers furniture up-cycling and refurbishment services for house-proud residents in East Lothian, as well as staging a range of creative upcycling workshops, pop-up shops and local community group events throughout the year.

QMU level two students, Stuart MacKenzie, Connor Mullan, Blue Rainbird and Roni Simpson worked with REdesign to build a new social media network, linking together Facebook and Twitter, as well as photo and video sharing channels – Instagram, Vine and Pinterest. The students also created a new image and logo for REdesign, by advising on a new style of photography to reflect the network as it develops.

The results of the students’ work are already having a positive impact on REdesign’s membership and online presence.

If other East Lothian and Edinburgh businesses and voluntary organisations are interested in finding out more about QMU’s film and media client projects they should contact Denny Collie on E: dcollie@qmu.ac.uk