Portfolio
Lily Bennett (she/her) is a student at the NFTS, studying Assistant Directing and Floor Managing!
She is also a freelance Producer and BBC apprentice alumni from a diverse background who strives to tell unique stories that highlight underrepresented voices.
She is experienced in both scripted and unscripted, working on projects such as Eurovision 2023 and BFI Academy courses, and with organisations including BBC Studios: Natural History Unit and the NFTS in a range of Production Coordination roles. Her student film won ‘Best Animation’ at the Exeter College ‘Oscars’, which led to her participating in the BFI Film Academy Animation Specialist Course and receiving training from Aardman Academy.
At 20, Lily has already demonstrated an aptitude to achieve success early on in her career, as well as a strong determination to see more queer and neurodivergent representation within film and TV.
BFI/ NFTS Craft Skills - Producing
In 2023 I attended the BFI Film Academy Craft Skills course at the NFTS' Beaconsfield campus. I worked as a producer to create a short film within a short time span. Utilising the school and academy's resources, we worked with industry professionals to take this film from development through to distribution. I was highly praised for my professionalism and performance whilst on location and during presentations (which I led). Our short was screened in the BFI Southbank cinema for a large audience.
Since 2021, I have been selected to take part in four official BFI Academy specialist courses. The first course I attended was an animation program, where I spoke with industry professionals and learnt new skills, terminology and techniques. As I part of the class, I created a short stop-motion sequence (seen on the right). This was a highly competitive course offered to young adults across the UK, so I had to work hard to get onto this course, but I am very appreciative for what I learnt and the people I met through it.
BFI Animation Camp
BFI Screenwriting Camp
In 2021, I participated in a BFI Film Academy Screenwriting course. I spent my summer holidays partaking in online workshops, masterclasses and industry professional talks. During this course I was able to work in a writers room and network with some very talented young creatives. Whilst attending, I worked creatively with a group to create a full script, which was performed live by professional actors. Additionally, I was able to work individually on my own monologue project, which was professional acted and filmed by CTVC and produced as a part of the BFI.
Crime Drama - Title Sequence
For this project, I constructed an entire Crime Drama proposal (including extensive research and pre-production). I then produced a title sequence for this.
College Projects
During my time studying creative courses in college, I have been able to create multiple projects and demonstrate my skills. Through producing new content and media across my courses, I can visualize my development and improvement. On the left, I have shown some of my initial work and the pre-production work. On the right, I have included one of my most recent college projects and how my pre-production work has improved.
Do Dogs Make Us Better Citizens? - Documentary
This is one of my initial productions, showing a starting point. This took a lot of organisation with a big contributor, so I had to demonstrate my negotiation skills.
I won my first film award at the Exeter College Oscars 2022, for Best Animation. The year prior I was nominated for Best Short Film on a group project. The film I created to win the award was an interactive, stop-motion animated film which I presented as my final major project of the course. Below is a link to the project and on the right is a promo video for the film.
Best Animation - Keeping Control (Interactive Film)
Hobbies: Art
I studied Art at GCSE and was awarded a grade 7, but I have also continued to create my own work in my spare time, as well as applying my love of art when creating pre-production and film work/ coursework.
Hobbies: Photography
In my spare time, I enjoy photography as a way of creatively expressing ideas and moments. Photography also allows me to experiment with my camera and be more comfortable with utilizing it.
Evaluation of photographers that inspire me: https://lilybennett1.wixsite.com/filmandvideo/photography-evaulation
