Realistic animation of an expressive human face has been a great challenge in computer graphics due to the human perception of human faces. It is a complex, costly and time-consuming process requiring a great detail in many aspects. In this paper, a three-stage method is presented that simplifies the creation of realistic facial animations by transferring the expressions from 2D videos onto 3D models with a joint-based system on a real-time basis. The first stage covers the preparation of the model with a joint-based rig for the transfer. The second includes the real time tracking of a human face with a single camera to obtain 2D positions of facial landmarks. Also it covers the transfer of 3D relative movement data to animate the prepared model by moving the respective joints. The last stage covers the recording of animation using a partially automated key-framing technique. The presented method provides a fast, easy to use and affordable system that produces visually satisfying facial animations.