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Background[]

The VID-TV (or ВИD) mask was an infamous logo from the Russian TV company of the same name. The company itself was founded by Vladislav Listyev, Andrey Rasbash, Alexander Lyubimov, Alexander Politkovsky, Ivan Demidov and Alexander Gorozhankin. The original mask was created by Andrey Rasbash, and would be used until 2013.

Logos[]

1st logo (1990-2002)[]

On an off-white background, there is a thick black line wipe onto the screen from the left side, going right. It begins vibrating horizontally as it continues moving, and then a gray ball comes from off-screen left and begins bouncing along it at a fast pace. It then falls off as the line stops moving. Then it cuts to a large close-up of the ball from the bird's eye view as it falls down into the center and disappears. The black outline of a circle shoots out from the center, immediately followed by a black circle that fills the screen, creating a black background. Then, a CGI stone mask of Chinese Taoist philosopher Guo Xiang, with a frog sitting on top of it, fades in, appearing at the last note of the fanfare. Then "ВИD" fades in and shines underneath in large bronze letters, which is Russian for "VID".

Variants[]

  • There is a variant of the full logo with the mask disappearing and gray text saying "Predstavlyayet" (or "ПРЕДСТАВАЯЮТ Predstavayayut") appearing afterwards.
    • A sub-variant, found on the very first episode of Поле Чудес (Pole Chudes, the Russian version of Wheel of Fortune) that aired on October 25, 1990, exists, in which the logo quickly accelerates at the point where the ball falls into the center and quickly decelerates back to the normal speed when "ВИD" fades in, possibly due to an editing/compression error.
  • An abridged variant was also used at the end of some programs, in which the the ball-and-stick segment was cut and the logo started with the zooming circles. Only the five-note fanfare is used here.
  • There is another abridged variant that was used on Тема (The Topic) in 1992 where the ending theme plays and the last note of the fanfare then plays when the mask appears.
  • A "presentation" variant was used sometimes before the beginning of a special program. The variant consisted only of the mask and the company name fading in and the company name shining. Instead of the standard music, Andrey Razbash says "телекомпания ВИD представляет..." ("VID Production presents..."). In 1999, this replaced the standard version due to concerns of epilepsy.
    • There's an extended version before Wait for Me! in July 17, 1998, where it has only the mask for 8 seconds, and the animation continues normally.
    • A silent version of the presentation variant has white text saying "представляет" under the mask, with or without the "ВИD" above it.
    • Another version of the presentation variant has the 5-note fanfare, which soon gets cut off by Razbash saying "представляет" when the "ВИD" appears.
  • There is another variant in which the mask is formed from the smoke of a lit match. This variant was supposedly only seen on Угадай Мелодию, the Russian version of Name That Tune, and is possibly a myth.
  • There is a variant before Один на один (One on One) where the word "представляет" is written under the text "ВИD". Besides it has no sound.
  • In 1999-2001, a special Christmas variant was used that featured the mask fading in and slowly zooming in. As it zooms, it slowly grows a beard and Santa (or possibly, Father Frost) hat complete with a happy grin. Below the mask, it reads "C новым годом!" ("S novym godom!", meaning "Happy new year!") in the slab-serif font, and "год" in the word "годом" changes to "ВИD" in the corporate font. The music is a chord fading from the closing theme.
  • From 1997 to 2000, another Christmas-themed variant of the presentation variant was also used, with snow falling around the mask and company name.
  • In 1993-1997 before L-club, the VID mask would morph into the face of Leonid Yarmolnik (the host of the show) and open its eyes, jiggling its eyebrows in the process. After it does this, it kind of looks like it is staring at you, looking tired.
  • At the end of a 1994 L-club episode on April Fools Day (this was reportedly done as a joke), when the text appears, the face on the VID mask morphs into a different face with creepy wide eyes and his tongue sticking out (it kind of looks the standard L-Club variant but except for the tongue sticking out), as if to mock or taunt at the viewer. This variant sometimes appeared at the end of other L-club episodes as well, including the one from 18 June on the same year. Also, the variant stays there for 12 seconds before finally cutting to black.
  • A spoof of the logo was seen on Оба-на! beginning with a man (played by actor/comedian Evgeny Voskresensky) superimposed over the ball/line animation, panicking and freaking out over it, and then sliding down as the ball falls off the line. It then proceeds normally, until a few seconds after the mask is seen, it then fades into a gray-scale version of the face of Russian writer/comedian Igor Ugolnikov, whom says in an electronically-distorted voice in Russian, "VID, VID. Nothing is viewed from your view!" and then smiles as we hear the opening theme.
  • Before Otdyhay! in 1992-1993, the standard variant plays out as normal, but the "ВИD" wordmark fades in with the mask (which is in the high-contrast monochrome tone used for the 8th logo, but colored gold) and the mask says in a high-pitched voice "Эй! Отдыхай однако!" ("Hey! Relax, though!") before smiling. Everything, except for ball-and-stick segment, is animated with computer graphics.
  • There is a variant from 1993 in Взгляд (Vzglyad, "The Glance"), where there is the name of the show in the condensed serif font being spelled out with the sound of a typewriter in the background. After a pause, the 5-note fanfare plays while VID's telephone and fax numbers and the words "Вы смотрите" zoom out and the mask, albeit resized to the 80-85% of it, and wordmark appear above the numbers when they position.
  • There is a variant where the "ВИD" text is in a different font.
  • There is also a variant introduced around 2001 in which the "ВИD" text flips vertically and shines instead of simply appearing. Also, the text shines as a whole instead of a "glow line" moving down the text.
  • There is an extremely rare variant with monochrome letters.

2nd logo (1992-1993)[]

There is a black room with projectors and an off-white shawl with Jin Chan part exposed. A man (played by a unknown actor) comes to the shawl, greets everyone, saying "Я снимаю!" ("I'll take it off!"), and starts to take the shawl off. When the shawl is removed, the VID mask underneath is revealed. The man goes off screen and the removed shawl turns into the word "ВИD". The projectors disappear and the name zooms in further.

3rd logo (1993)[]

On a black background, with the video of the moving, tinfoil-like plasticine background surrounded by the shining orange outline, the words "Вы смотрите" (meaning "You are watching") in orange writes on the top inside the rectangle, while the gray plasticine mask and "ВИD" below, are forming from the background. Then the background stops moving and we zoom on the mask and the text, and everything flashes with colorful lights, making the picture more brighter and colorful, making the mask beige, then the plasticine background and the wordmark irises out until it reaches the mask, revealing the black background with the same wordmark as the 1st logo, and the plasticine mask becomes gray and high-contrast, and they finally zoom on the rectangle, while the mask becomes normal. The finished product is the last frame of the 1st logo, but with "Вы смотрите" above the mask.

4th logo (1993-1994)[]

This logo appears only during the promo to Pole Chudes. They first see a split screen of footage from the show's episodes, transitioning to the Pole Chudes TV set, with the text saying "телекомпания" written in red font superimposed on the top of the screen, which is surrounded by CGI spinning lights. There is the wheel stuck on 750 Rubles after spinning offscreen, and the presenter Leonid Yakubovich who asks the three players the letters to figure out the puzzle seen onscreen (guessing the name of the TV company, in this case). The camera focuses the first player, a brown-haired and blue-eyed young man who says "Letter D", making the "D" appear as the third letter. Then, the camera cuts to the second player, an elderly woman with glasses and dark hair which later says "V" and the host asks "Which letter?", with the lady replying "Letter V!", with the "В" appearing as the first letter. and then, there is the third player, a grey-haired spectacled old man which answers "I" making the "И" appear as the second letter and Yakubov says "Absolutely right!". Later, there are various close-up stills of the presenter during various episodes until his face finally morphs into the mask (and the background fades into the black), the three letters onscreen forming "ВИD" morphing into the golden "ВИD" wordmark glowing and the "телекомпания" text fades off. Instead of the usual 5-notes fanfare, there is a crowd applauding at the end.

5th logo (1994-1996)[]

On a black background with a golden frame, there is a lump of plasticine in the frame. A pair of hands appear, and they sculpt a newspaper. The black background slowly fades into a white background while the newspaper is being modeled. Then the hands sculpt a radio from the newspaper. The hands then press a button on the radio then to a television. During the modeling of the television, "Лучше один раз увидеть" (It is better to see once in English) is inscribed below the frame. Then it cuts to the hands modeling the right antenna of the television. Then when goes back to the original position of the camera. The hands press the center small button and turns the big button. Then the screen shows the tail end of the 1st logo. The background turns back to black. It zooms into the television screen when the color of its background changes. Then the "Лучше один раз увидеть" shrinks and then transforms into "VID" with a flash.

6th logo (1994-1995)[]

On the black background, the number in the Times font, counting down from 3 to 0, then the number "0" morphs into a high-contrast monochrome version of the mask from before and in Otdyhay!, and finally "ВИDСПб" ("VIDSaint Petersburg") fades in below.

7th logo (1995-2002)[]

On a black background, there is an orange rectangular border with "Производство телекомпании" (in the Pragmatica font), "ВИD" (in the weird serif font) and "по заказу ОРТ" (in the same Pragmatica font). Below it, there's "Наш адрес в INTERNET:" and a web address. After a few seconds, they cut to the shortened variant of the first logo.

Variants[]

  • In its early years, there was no web address.
  • After Seryebryanny Shar (Silver Ball), there is a gradient blue text saying "Телекомпания ВИD" (Telecompany VID), "по заказу АО ОРТ" ("for ORT") at top and "наш адрес в Интернет" (our Internet site) with the address below at bottom.
  • Another variant has the text Телекомпания ВИD по заказу АО "Общественное российское телевидение" ("TV Company VID for "Russian Public Television") written in Pragmatica font on a black background.
  • Another variant which has been used after Женские истории in 2000-01has the top text "Производство телекомпании ВИD по заказу ОРТ" ("A TV Company VID Production for "Russian Public Television") in a rectangular and the bottom text "Наш адрес в INTERNET: http://www.vid.ru/" ("Our site on INTERNET: http://www.vid.ru/") in Compact font.

8th logo (1995)[]

On a dark gray background, a sheet of paper with the black/gray gradient unfolds to cover the background. Then a white dot draws the television set with "bunny ear" antennas. The TV turns itself on, showing the static on the screen, and the antennas adjust themselves to show clips from Тема. A jump-cut occurs, causing the TV to move up and show the dark blue background with the mask with noticeably black edges around it, the words "Лучше один раз увидеть" (Better see it once) to appear below the TV, and they zoom on the screen, causing the background on the screen to turn black and the wordmark from the first logo to appear below the mask and shine, forming the last frame of the first logo.

9th logo (1996-2002)[]

On a dark cloudy sky with the Spasskaya Tower on the right, several small searchlights scanning the sky, three projectors project the sky with the spinning circles divided into six pieces, and some gray zeppelins passing by, there is a huge TV-set with a large screen and the stage lighting truss with 9 spotlights hanging from it and the staircase on the right of it, where frames from VID programs: Один на Один, МузОБОЗ, Час-Пик, Взгляд, Поле Чудес, Тема, and Угадай Мелодию, are flashing, and the camera is moving. When the screen displays the VID mask, the screen "wipes" to the gray gradient background with the monochrome wordmark. Everything fades to black, and the word "ПРЕДСТАВЛЯЕТ" appears.

10th logo (1997)[]

TBA.

11th logo (2000-2013)[]

Against the black background, a gold line stretches outwards horizontally in the center of the screen, resembling a CRT television powering up. The line opens up and glows, containing the word "ТЕЛЕКОМПАНИЯ" in a black font (this word is also seen scrolling in faint large letters within the bar); this then shrinks into a dot, from which arises a thin black ring, containing within it the infamous stone mask. The mask stops in the center of the screen, much smaller than before, and the ring fades to the glowing ring. The word "ВИD" appears in gold Times New Roman font, some lines close in around the mask, and a faint gold line appears at the bottom-right; the word "ПРЕДСТАВЛЯЕТ" is typed in there upon in the black typewriter font. All of this happens in a span of about five seconds.

Variant[]

Sometimes a slowed-down version of the logo plays, but before the faint yellow line and "ПРЕДСТАВЛЯЕТ" appearing, it cross-fades to the close-up of the waving Russian flag with "При финансовой поддержке Федерального агентства по печати и массовым коммуникациям" ("With the financial support from Federal Agency on Press and Mass Communications") written in front of it.

12th logo (2003-2005)[]

On a red wireframe background, there are the texts written in Evolventa font blur in and out by order: "ТЕЛЕКОМПАНИЯ ВИD" ("VID TV COMPANY"), "КРЫЛЬЯ МЕДИА" ("KRYLYA MEDIA"), "представляют" ("Presents").

13th logo (2013-2017)[]

Same concept as 11th logo, but modified a bit. Against the cerulean gradient background, a gold line stretches outwards horizontally in the center of the screen, resembling a CRT television powering up. The line opens up and glows, the word "телекомпания" is scrolling in faint large letters within the bar; on the center of the screen, the new gold 3D version of the mask appears out of thin air instantly and zooms in and a thin black ring pulsates like a ripple. The mask stops in the center of the screen, as in the previous logo, and the circle reaches an optical gold circle. The word "ВИD" appears in the same typeface used in the first logo, some lines close in around the mask, words "телекомпания" and "представляет" appear over and under the mask respectively. Some light illuminates the mask from the right.

14th logo (2017-)[]

A toad walks on top of a brown sculpture, which turns out to be a brand new version of the mask logo, with a less scary look that more closely resembles Guo Xiang's actual death mask than the original. Particles fly around the mask as it smiles. The word "ВИDgital" appears in a brand new typeface.

Variant[]

  • From 2020 onwards, it says "ВИD".
  • There is a version before Служу Отчизне (I Serve the Fatherland!) - like the last logo, it cross-fades to the close-up of the waving Russian flag with "При финансовой поддержке Федерального агентства по печати и массовым коммуникациям" ("With the financial support from Federal Agency on Press and Mass Communications"), but without announcer's voice.

Music/Sounds[]

1st logo: At the beginning, a jackhammer sound then something that sounds like a phew, then, a dramatic 5 note fanfare playing (made in KAWAI K1) and a glass shattering sound, when the creepy stone mask appears.

2nd logo: Crowd noises throughout, the man talking, ripping noises when the man takes the shawl off, and a 3-note fanfare near the end.

3rd logo: A fast-paced techno beat accompanied by scribbling sounds when the mask forms from the plasticine background, ending with the reversed cymbal crash and the brass hit.

4th logo: A piano music with the narration precedes the people speaking, followed by dings as a letter appears and an applause at the end.

5th logo: A pop tune with newspaper sounds as the newspaper is almost formed, which is actually "Tied Up" by Yello. When the text transforms into "VID", they hear the last 2-notes of the 2nd logo's fanfare.

6th logo: A low sonic tone with wind blowing in the background, quiet pings in timing with the numbers counting down, followed by a rearranged, more dramatic version of the 1st logo fanfare.

7th logo: The closing theme of the show or Andrey Razbash's voice announcer saying "Телекомпания ВИD по заказу ОРТ" (TV Company VID for ORT).

8th logo: Sounds of the page turning and a drawing, followed by friendly-sounding music, which is the melody of "Don't Worry, Be Happy" by Bobby McFerrin.

9th logo: '30s style patriotic music, similar to "The Sing Helps Us to Build and to Live" from the Soviet film Vesyolye Rebyata.

10th logo: A rearranged variant of Tatsuhiko Arakawa's Brand New

11th logo: Same as the presentation variant of the first logo, except an echo effect can be heard on the announcer's voice.

Music/Sounds Variants[]

  • Before Жди меня, there is a different announcer (Aleksey Neklyudov) saying more than usual with some text appearing over the Russian flag (probably a text proving, that the show is financially supported by FAPMC). This is also sometimes used for the next logo below.
  • Sometimes, the announcer's words are "spaced out further" while being said.

12th logo: Andrey Razbash's voice announcer saying, "Телекомпания ВИD, Крылья Медиа представляют" (TV Company VID and Krylya Media present), accompanied by synth swooshes.

13th logo: Same as the last logo, though both words are "spaced out further" while being said.

14th Logo: hip-hop beat, or a rather dramatic theme with synths that begins with some banging sounds.

Scare Factor[]

[]

Depending on the logo variant:

  • Original, Monochromatic, Letter, Abridged, Оба-на!, and Otdyhay!, and Поле Чудес Episode 1 variants: None to medium. The animation is pretty cool, and is a favorite of many. But the mask can scare some.
  • L-club April Fools' Day variant: Medium to high, due to the mask suddenly morphing into a mocking, eerie face sticking out its tongue at the viewer, which will definitely scare more than a few first-time and unsuspecting viewers, especially those who are not expected it. It also doesn't help either that the logo in this variant stays on-screen for 12 seconds.
  • Christmas variant: Minimal to low, The mask morphing could scare some, but others will find it to be funny, it's a lot tamer than the last one.
  • Presentation variants: Low to medium. The mask is still quite creepy, and the male announcer may startle those who weren't expecting it.
  • Standard L-club variant: None to medium. Even thought the mask morphing can scare some, at least it is as good as the OG variant.

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Low to medium, because of the appearance of the mask and music.

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Medium. The chaotic background, mask as usual, and sudden end to the music will get a few.

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None (bordering on minimal) to medium, due to the presenter's head transforming into the mask, but the promo itself looks pretty comedic.

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Low, mostly due to the mask and the zooming circles on the TV. The music sounds funny, however.

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Low to medium. The print logo and dark atmosphere may surprise some.

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None to low, due to the flash.

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Minimal to medium, depending on how you feel about the mask appearing. The music and graphics seem to be pretty comfortable for viewing here.

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Minimal to low. The VID mask showing up briefly can be jarring to first time viewers, and that's saying too much, The music also has a very cheerful tone to it.

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Low, due to the mask and flash.

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Low, due to the mask.

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None to low, due to the announcer. Despite that, this is nothing compared to the next logo…

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Medium to nightmare. The newer version of the mask is ugly and the announcer is still pretty startling.

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Low. This is a major improvement and a refreshing change over the previous logo. and the focusing on the toad is a very cool addition, as it usually was very hard to see in the previous logos.

Trivia[]

  • The name of the logo translates roughly into English as 'Glance and Others'.
  • The creator of the logo, Andrey Razbash (who also the voice of the presentation variation of the ident) was going to use the ceramic mask of Guo Xiang (among various proposals of Listyev's wife Albina Nazimova, which Razbash was helping with the restoration works at the Museum of Eastern Arts in Moscow), but the museum would not let him use it. Therefore, he tried to model the head with computer graphics instead, digitally cropping the ears with elongated earlobes off the mask in the process, which VID co-founder Alexander Lyubimov stated that made it look like "some kind of mess, like a bad Cheburashka (a Russian children book character, which has large ears)". This, combined with the logo itself, makes this logo very infamous.
  • Many Russian viewers who were not familiar about the origins of the logo thought that the mask looked like the former Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
  • The "ВND” wordmark uses the Latin "D" instead of the Cyrillic "Д", so the wordmark does not use the proper way to write "VID" with Cyrillic letters.
  • The weird bulge on the top of the mask is actually a three-pawed toad, known as Jin Chan or as Money Frog. It's a little hard to see, since it's shadowed and can be confused for a hair bun or a knot. When the VIDigital logo was debuted, the fact that it is a toad and not part of the mask was made much more obvious and a focus of the logo. In some Asian cultures, the three-pawed toad represents spiritual wealth, power and financial wealth.
  • This logo became very popular in the Vyond/Go Animate community.
  • The logo has a screamer variant on YouTube, known as the BND of Doom.
  • This logo has been featured in the Russian horror visual novel, Tiny Bunny. In Episode 3, after Olya and Tosha's parents have gone completely mad from the forest surrounding their village, the two protagonists embrace each other for comfort. Afterwards, as Tosha looks towards the TV, where the logo itself is displayed. However, from Olya's point of view, it becomes far more horrifying in the form of a jumpscare, causing her to hide behind Tosha and beg for her to turn it off. Tosha's internal monologue after she turns the TV off also mentions her unease with the logo as well.
    • The logo has also been documented in the game's Glossary, which also references its reputation of traumatizing children in the 90s.
  • The man who started the channel, Vladislav Listyev, was shot outside his apartment and died. After his death VID, ORT and lots of other Russian TV channels went off the air for a day and displayed the message ВЛАДИСЛАВ ЛИСТЬЕВ УБИТ, or Vladislav Listyev Killed. The persons who killed Listyev or the commissioner of his murder were never found.
  • This logo was once aired on American TV during the collapse of the Soviet Union, because Vzglyad a Russian news show made by VID, was aired.

Gallery[]

Screenshot 2021-09-02 2.00

Rare Monochrome Letter Variant

BND
VIDA
BNDEyesOpen
ViD-TV (1990-2002)
VIDgital (Tiny Bunny)

The VIDgital logo's jumpscare in Tiny Bunny.

VIDgital (Tiny Bunny)2

The VIDgital logo as it's featured in Tiny Bunny.

ViD-TV (Christmas)
ViD-TV (L-Club)
ViD-TV (AFD L-Club)
ViD-TV (Oba-na!)
ViD-TV (Otdyhay)

Video[]

BND_Logo(1990s)

BND Logo(1990s)

ВИD_Logo_History

ВИD Logo History

A logo history of VID.

Extra Video[]

ВИД-VID_(1991)

ВИД-VID (1991)

This is the video of when the VID logo aired on American television during the collapse of the Soviet Union.

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