Animation Professor Attributes Success to Understanding Service
This fall, Kelly Loosli launched the 2024-2025 Faith + Works lecture series in the College of Fine Arts and Communications with a presentation about how approaching work with a “service narrative” has led to his personal success. He presented a combination of personal anecdotes, work principles, scripture and film clips to about 200 attendees.
“As a child I very much believed in me: my goals, my wants, my success,” he said. “As an adult I believe in us: the team. I still love movies about the hero’s journey. I also know that there is a partnership with others who are helping with that hero’s journey.”
Loosli talked about learning the value of hard work as a child. His father worked several jobs to support the family, so time with his dad meant working alongside him. By the time Loosli was in high school he had already developed a passion for filmmaking and was being paid for making clay animated commercials. He brought that work ethic to BYU as a student but didn’t know working with his dad also prepared him to serve others on a mission until his first year here.
“By serving a mission, my perspective on life changed,” Loosli said. “Understanding the Atonement gave me the freedom to calm down a bit and gave me more confidence in myself. Because I had faith in the Lord, I knew I could go after my dream. When you are in the service of the Lord, you are blessed and He will take care of you.”
After his mission, Loosli won his first Student Emmy. Now he has gone on to help numerous students win nominations and awards. Earlier this year, BYU Animation’s "The Witch’s Cat" won the Student Emmy. Students in both the animation and commercial music departments have been winning awards for the short film “Student Accomplice” this fall. Under Loosli’s guidance, “Student Accomplice” has won third place at the Student Academy Awards which has turned into an international competition.
Loosli’s focus remained on others, even when he mentioned personal successes outside the university such as the Chick-fil-A commercials. He said he was happy to have that work because it delighted his family.
In addition to working for Chick-fil-A, he has worked for DreamWorks Feature Animation and Buena Vista Motion Pictures at Disney and co-founded BYU’s Animation program and the Center for Animation, which he now directs. Throughout the lecture he showed his work on landmark animations, such as “Shrek” and “Spirit.”
Although his professional work is impressive, students remarked it was their gratitude for his guidance that drew them to his lecture.
“I’m majoring in media arts with an emphasis in production, and working with Professor Loosli helped me understand how the animation work compared to live action in film,” said student Adam Woodall. “Now I feel more confident in doing both. He’s really helpful to people whatever their major.”