Requested by @TheAwesomeGuy16 Nicknames: "The Scary Mask", "The Russian Mask", "The Mask of Doom", "The Stone Mask", "The Angry Mask", "VID Mask", "Soviet Scary Face", "SSM (Super Scary Mask)", "The SSF from Russia", "BИD Mask", "In Soviet Russia, Mask Wears You!" Logo: On an off-white background, we see a thick black line wipe onto the screen from the left side, going right. It begins vibrating as it continues moving, and then a white 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 we cut to a large close-up of the ball as it zooms away from us and disappears. The black outline of a circle zooms in, immediately followed by a entirely black circle that fills the screen, creating a black background, and then a creepy-looking stone mask with a mean-looking expression on its face fades in. Then "ВИD" fades in and shines underneath in large bronze letters, which is Russian for "VID". It kind of looks like "BND". Variants:There is a variant of the full logo with the mask disappearing and gray text saying "представляет" appearing afterwards. The sub-variant of this variant, found on the very first episode of Поле Чудес aired in October 25, 1990, exists, in which the logo quickly accelerates along with sounds at the point where the ball will about to fall into the background and quickly decelerates back to the normal speed when the logo fades out, possibly due to the 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 at the zooming circles. Only the five-note fanfare is used here. There is another abridged variant that was used on Темы 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 и Компания, the Russian version of Name That Tune, and is possibly a myth. 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 hat complete with a happy grin. Below the mask, it reads "C новым годом!" in the slab-serif font, and "год" in the word "годом" changes to "ВИD" in the corporate font. The music is a menacing chord fading from the closing theme. From 1998 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 and open its eyes, jiggling his eyebrows in the process. At the end of a 1994 L-club episode on April Fools Day (this was reportedly done as a joke); the face on the VID mask faded into a different face with eerie eyes and a tongue sticking out (as if to mock the viewer). This variant sometimes appeared at the end of other L-club episodes as well. A spoof of the logo was seen on Оба-на! beginning with a man from the show 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 an opening theme. Before Otdyhay! in 1992-1994, the standard variant plays out as normal, but the "ВИD" wordmark fades in with the mask (which is in the posterized monochrome tone used for the 4th logo, but colored gold) and the mask says in a high-pitched voice "Hey! Relax, though!" before smiling. Everything, except for ball-and-stick segment, is animated with computer graphics. FX/SFX: The line forming, the ball bouncing, the circle zooming and background color change, and the mask and "ВИD" fading in and shining. Cheesy Factor: The animation of the ball bouncing and the line isn't very detailed, looking like it was made in the 1950s.
Music/Sounds: Starts out with an industrial whirring/jackhammer/film projector-like stock sound effect during the ball and line animation, and then when the black circle zooms in, a loud, dramatic 5-note fanfare, composed by Vladimir Ratskevich, is heard, ending with some ominous synth whirring as the text appears and shines. Availability: Rare. It's seen before VID-produced programs in Russia such as Поле Чудес (Field of Wonders) and Ищу тебя!/Жди Меня (Looking for You!/Wait for Me). Scare Factor: Depends on the variant: Nightmare for the original variant and the abridged variant. The loud scary music, zooming circles, and evil-looking mask have scared many people, mostly those in Russia, but it's become some sort of an Internet meme for its scariness. Unarguably one of the most frightening logos ever made. Medium for the Christmas variant. The menacing chord along with the sudden appearance of the mask may scare some, but it is far less intimidating than the normal one. Low to medium for the presentation variants. The mask is still quite creepy, and the male announcer may startle those who weren't expecting it, but these is much less frightening than the original variant. High to nightmare for the standard L-club variant, since the mask morphing into Yarmolnik's face and the opening of its eyes can scare quite a few, and we still have that dramatic fanfare, but it's (somewhat) less intimidating than the normal one. Nightmare for the April Fools Day L-club variant due to the mask suddenly changing into an eerie, mocking face; as well as the dramatic fanfare and and "zooming circles" animation retained from the abridged variant. This variant is infamous for scaring many unsuspecting viewers when it first aired as an April Fools joke, as well as the fact that the variant sometimes appeared on other L-club episodes afterwards, catching (and scaring) viewers by surprise as a result. Medium to nightmare for the Оба-на! variant. With the mask fading into Ugolnikov's face, it will definitely scare some. But others might find it funny. High to nightmare for the Otdyhay! variant. The fact that the mask is talking (not to mention what it is saying completely contradicts the scary mask) and smiles in a creepy way is bound to scare many. High for the Поле Чудес Episode 1 variant. The sudden fast speed of this logo can get to some, but it's funny.
