Tadeo Jones visits the Informativos Telecinco Set
MoCaptury - Markerless motion capture for real-time AR interaction in broadcast.
Project Overview
To coincide with the original language release of ‘Tadeo Jones y la Lámpara Maravillosa’ (International Title: ‘Tad and the Magic Lamp’) in Spain, the production team of leading Spanish news programme ‘Informativos Telecinco’ were tasked with putting together a short interview segment ahead of the animated feature film’s world premiere in Madrid.
This interview would not be with the film’s director or the cast, but with Tadeo Jones, the film’s animated lead character, joining presenter Carlos Franganillo on set.
Project Partners
Mediaset España – Broadcast media production company responsible for flagship news program ‘Informativos Telecinco’
Telecinco Cinema – Producers of ‘Tadeo Jones y la Lámpara Maravillosa’
Mo-Sys Solutions – Provider of markerless, suit-less, real-time motion capture technology
The Challenge
Informativos Telecinco has long been known for its prestige feature reports, using Virtual Production to give its audience a unique perspective on world events, with flying camera tours of the Vatican for the 2025 Conclave and time-bending journeys through the history of the United States as part of its coverage of the US election in 2024.
Conclave: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPozUM5HfYw
US Election Coverage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rq3SatOQqyA
For this promotional segment, the Informativos Telecinco team wanted to push further, going beyond walkthroughs of virtual locations, to have Carlos Franganillo interact with one of the animated characters in a single frame for an ‘as-live’ interview on-set.
Virtual Production Facilities
For large-scale, sprawling productions like their Conclave coverage, Informativos Telecinco often collaborate with Spanish Virtual Production specialists MR Factory to develop virtual environments and utilise their 500m2 chromakey studio set with its Mo-Sys StarTracker Technology and VP Pro software.
Day-to-day production of Informativos Telecinco happens at their Mediaset España facility, which hosts its own massive 31 x 2.5 meter U-shaped, wrap-around display built with Alfalite Modularpix Pro 1.9 ORIM technology. The Mediaset España LED studio also includes a MoCaptury installation for real-time, suit-less motion capture.
Mo-Sys Insight
MoCaptury is not limited to LED stages. It works with greenscreen studio setups and traditional studio spaces as well, delivering complete production flexibility to capture real-world motion for translation into Unreal Engine.
Selin Kemal – Managing Director, Mo-Sys
Motion Capture Methods
Marker-Based Motion Capture
Traditionally used to record performance on set for later refinement and animation work in post-production. This approach commonly requires a skin-tight bodysuit with reflective markers, tracked by an array of cameras mounted around the facility, and an additional, cumbersome, head-mounted camera rig to track make-up markers for facial expression capture.
Markerless motion capture
Far more suitable for live broadcast, markerless motion capture uses a camera array and algorithmic analysis to calculate the movements of the subject in real-time, applying that motion to a digital-double skeleton, including finger movement and facial expressions. Subjects are able to perform wearing their own clothes or costumes.
Mo-Sys Insight
MoCaptury enables broadcast teams to create trigger points within the virtual environment so that presenters can interact with elements such as AR graphics live, on-air.
It also supports multiple subjects, empowering entire presenter teams to interact with these virtual elements in real-time.
James Uren – CTO, Mo-Sys
The Workflow
Rather than go through the costly and time-intensive process of having the Telecinco Cinema team produce an additional, one-off animated sequence for the promotional spot, the team decided to bring Tadeo on to set using motion capture to animate his physical form.
The production team were supplied with the 3D character model and environment assets, along with Óscar Barberán’s performance of Tadeo’s interview.
A physical performance was captured using MoCaptury, with the motion of the MoCaptury skeleton re-targeted onto the rig of the 3D Tadeo Jones Model.
Once Informativos Telecinco’s distinctive virtual set had been given a digital make-over, extending out into a jungle temple scene from the film, the as-live segment was shot with Carlos Franganillo sharing the stage with Tadeo himself.
Mo-Sys Insight
MoCaptury is also fast to initialise, taking approximately five seconds to lock on to each subject, and then maintains tracking for as long as the subject stays in the tracking area.
This is incredibly important for broadcasters as it means the system can start tracking just prior to going on air and then run throughout a live broadcast, without the need for additional calibration during the show.
James Uren – CTO, Mo-Sys
The Outcome
Carlos Franganillo and his team were able to welcome Tadeo on to the set for a light-hearted promotional piece that could capture the attention of the film’s target audience by having the animated hero interviewed, rather than the voice actors and animators who worked on the project.
Tadeo Jones was able to announce the world premiere of his latest adventure, as live, without the complexities of a fully animated segment being produced by the movie producers, delivering his message without the need to create a single character keyframe.
