TV3 (Russia)

Background

TV3 (Cyrillic: ТВ3; also known as TV-3 Russia/ТВ-3 Россия) is a Russian television channel launched on June 6th, 1994. Initially, the TV channel broadcast only in Saint Petersburg until August 1, 1998, when it began broadcasting in Moscow, and in later years in other cities of Russia. It mainly broadcasts TV series in mystery, science fiction and fantasy genres. It was purchased in 2006 by Vladimir Potanin's ProfMedia (ПрофМедиа), which in turn was purchased by the Russian natural gas giant Gazprom and placed in its Gazprom Media division in December 2013.

ID (January 28, 2008-November 14, 2010)

Kidbox
Ghost
Octopus
Octopus (2nd variant)
Harpy
Evil Genius
Alien
Alien (2nd variant)
Knight
Plant
Robot
Robot (2nd variant)
Deadman
Treasure
Micromen
Puppet

Octopus
Harpy
Alien
Knight
Plant
New Year
Santa Claus
Puppet
Robot

Kidbox
Ghost
Octopus
Harpy
Alien
Knight
Plant
Robot
The beginning of the Treasure ident
The end of the Treasure ident
Yeti
Satellite
Scarecrow

Alien
Harpy

Visuals: In a various setting, a character's hand appears (usually from the bottom of the screen), holding a TV3 logo of the time, which consists of a deeply rounded dark blue 3D horizontal rectangle, inside which are the letters "ТВ" (in Venus Rising font) on the left and three light blue balls to the right. The glowing text "НАСТОЯЩИЙ МИСТИЧЕСКИЙ" (of which the font is either Helios Condensed, or an unidentified long font, depending on the ident) appears at the bottom of the screen letter-by-letter.

Later Variant: Starting on October 1st, 2009, the idents were in 16:9 aspect ratio and enhanced to look more realistic; and instead of a character's hand holding a logo, each ident shows how a character found the logo. The concept of how a character got the logo was used for the ad break bumpers, while the concept of a character's hand showing the logo was used for the closing ad break bumpers.

Variants: Both setting and hand vary depending on the ident.

2008-2009:
- Kidbox: In a dark room with toys and a wooden box (a la "jack-in-the-box"), a door opens (off-screen), causing a light to emit through it. A wooden box opens, causing a clown hand (which is light blue and it has blue dots on it and tentacles), along with confetti to pop out from it.
- Ghost: A ghost hand appears in the old castle.
- Octopus: An octopus' tentacle appears at the sea bottom with algae.
  - There's also a variant where the algae is absent.
  - A winter variant also exists where an octopus' tentacle appears from underwater in an Arctic setting at night with the northern lights.
- Harpy: The logo is seen flying in the evening sky against a castle; a harpy's claw catches the logo, while harpy continues to fly.
  - A winter variant exists where a snowfall is seen. The castle behind the logo is also different.
- Evil Genius: A black metal hand (possibly Sauron) appears in the darkness. One of the iron fingers tap the logo several times.
- Alien: There are two variants of this ident:
  - A green alien hand appears in space through the spaceship window. During New Year, the champagne cork, along with confetti, is seen flying in space.
  - A same alien hand appears, albeit upside down, and on the moon; UFO and the Earth are seen behind an alien hand, the former of which is flying. Everything has a "TV static" effect as if it was recorded on a slightly shaking camera.
- Knight: A knight's arm appears in a battle ammunition against a cloudy sky.
  - There's also a winter variant were a cloudy sky is replaced with a turquoise sky with mountains. A snowfall is also seen.
- Plant: A leaf of plant appears in the forest.
  - There's also a winter variant where a leaf of plant appears in an Arctic setting at night. A close-up of the moon is also seen behind a plant.
- Robot: There's a logo facing left in the air. An android hand slides from the right side of the screen, took the logo, and rotates to show the logo to the camera. There are three variations of this ident with each background being different:
  - A room with a wall of flashing RGB pixels.
  - A turquoise background with light blue lights, sci-fi patterns and hanging wires (possibly a laboratory).
  - A blue environment with gigantic metallic snowflakes (with glowing outlines) and glowing rainbow balls on the floor. This variant was used during New Year.
- Deadman: In a foggy forest environment with a wooden fence, a dead man's (actually a skeleton) hand emerged from the grave.
- Treasure: In a cave with a river and torches, there is a chest with a bunch of coins here. A dead man's hand (from the ident above) sticks out through the coins, causing them to fly out and fall from the chest.
- Micromen: A group of very long and thin green arms against a cave wall is seen, pushing the logo from the bottom.
- New Year: Through the icy window, a hand wearing a gray glove appears against a decorated living room with a fireplace and a Christmas tree.
- Santa Claus: On a dark turquoise radial gradient background with particles and a snowfall, there are three Christmas trees consisting of snowballs, with a light under them. A hand wearing a Christmas glove appears from the top as colorful patterns are drawing in the background.
- Puppet: The wooden hand is lifted with the help of several threads over a blue curtain with several hanging golden stars.
  - During New Year, a blue curtain has light blue patterns on it, and the hanging stars are replaced with hanging snowflakes. A snowfall is also seen.
2009-2010:
- Kidbox: There is a room with wallpapers consisting of green-cyan lines and toys (colorful cubes with letters, a white-red ball, a colorful railroad and a school bus) on the floor; there's also a photograph of an alien hand holding the TV3 logo on the right wall. A shadow of yeti is seen opening windows.
- Ghost: A group of knights with flags are seen going to an old castle. The gates are also seen opening for the knights to enter the old castle.
- Octopus: There is a ship sailing in the sea against a cloudy sky; three octopus' tentacles are sticking out underwater behind the ship, presumably preparing to attack the ship.
- Harpy: A harpy stone statue is seen on an allure of a castle; when harpy comes to life, he sees the logo flying in the evening sky. Cracks of a harpy stone statue are seen falling.
  - During Winter, the ident was snow-decorated.
- Alien: A wooden box with a clown hand holding a logo (not unlike the 2008 Kidbox ident) is seen behind the open wooden window with a cyan curtain at night. Suddenly, a blue light emits through the off-screen UFO, slowly sucking out the logo, which also caused a clown hand to be almost sucked out of a wooden box.
  - A New Year variant exists where a clown hand is seen from an opened red box with golden patterns on it and a green ribbon. A box with a clown hand are located on the left side of the screen behind a decorated icy window. Through an icy window, there's a Christmas tree in the street with a snowfall. The UFO appears to enlightening a Christmas tree.
- Knight: A knight is seen riding a horse against a village in the evening.
- Plant: The screen zooms through a grassfield over mountains. A harpy is seen flying, holding a logo, but then he dropped it.
- Robot: A futuristic door opens, revealing a robot holding a metallic cylindrical object (of which inside is the TV3 logo), while walking in a futuristic room.
- Treasure: In a cave, a skeleton wearing a pirate hat is seen with a torch enlightening the cave wall, on which a drawing of a tilted TV3 logo with roots, along with stick figure-like people holding torches and a deer are depicted. The skeleton then looked up at the top, as the camera slides to the top to reveal a chest located at the top of the cave.
- Yeti: In an Arctic setting at daytime, the screen slides to left to reveal a giant snowball. A yeti hand appears, wiping giant snowball, inside which the TV3 logo is revealed.
- Satellite: The screen zooms out through a satellite over a close-up of the Earth. Two astronauts along with a TV3 logo are seen flying in space.
- Scarecrow: A close-up of a blue butterfly is seen against green long plants at daytime, which flies off-screen to reveal a scarecrow (whose head looks like an alien) wearing a white shirt and a white hat, holding a TV3 logo.

Technique: CGI by EyeSCREAM Studio.

Audio: It varies, but every ident ends with a 3-note jingle and some noises depending on situation, followed by a male announcer (Alexander Sharonov) saying "ТВ3, Настоящий Мистический" (TV3, The Real Mystical).

Audio Variants:

2008-2009:
- Kidbox: A door opening sound with a 3-note xylophone jingle, followed by the sounds of a box opening and a twisted whistle, accompanied by an accordion tune.
- Ghost: A dramatic piano theme ending with a 3-note piano jingle. The announcer is reverbed.
- Octopus: A quiet guitar tune with a 3-note xylophone jingle, ending with a rising violin note.
  - A variant without algae has a guitar tune with underwater and reversed harp sounds, ending with a 3-note piano jingle.
- Harpy: A violin "heroic" theme with a whoosh sound when harpy catches the logo, ending with a 3-note piano jingle.
  - Sometimes, an electric guitar riff can be heard over a violin theme.
  - There's also a variant were a xylophone rendition of the 3-note jingle is heard.
- Evil Genius: A dramatic harp tune with a 3-note xylophone jingle and quiet metallic sounds when one of the iron fingers tap the logo several times.
- Alien:
  - The first variant has a quiet guitar tune ending with a 3-note piano jingle.
  - The second variant has a guitar/synth tune with dispatcher talking, ending with a 3-note xylophone jingle.
- Knight: A 3-note French horn jingle with drums, accompanied by knights cheering and a xylophone rendition of the same 3-note jingle. The announcer sounds more "heroic".
- Plant: An electronic guitar theme with a 3-note xylophone jingle.
- Robot: A quiet synth tune with electronic drums with a 3-note xylophone jingle. The announcer when he says "Настоящий Мистический", is computerized.
  - The second background variant has a dramatic harp theme similar to the Ghost ident, ending with a 3-note piano jingle.
- Deadman: A dramatic harp theme that's very similar to the second Robot ident, but with a whoosh sound when a dead man's hand emerged from the grave, ending with a 3-note piano jingle.
- Treasure: A quiet guitar tune similar to the Octopus ident, but with the sounds of coins falling, ending with a 3-note xylophone jingle.
- Micromen: A sound which sounds like children giggling with a guitar tune, ending with a 3-note xylophone jingle.
- New Year: A 10-note synth bell fanfare, followed by a 3-note xylophone jingle.
- Santa Claus: A jingle bell theme followed by a 3-note xylophone jingle.
- Puppet: A cheerfully-sounding flute theme with boing and child laughing sounds, ending with a 3-note piano jingle.
2009-2010:
- Kidbox: The sounds of yeti growling, walking and windows opening, accompanied by a guitar tune with a 3-note xylophone jingle.
- Ghost: An echoed guitar theme with the sounds of knights walking and moving gears.
- Octopus: Three bell sounds with the sounds of ocean, accompanied by a guitar tune.
- Harpy: A 3-note bell jingle followed by a guitar tune.
- Alien: A 3-note music box jingle followed by UFO sounds and a guitar tune.
  - A New Year variant has a 3-note music box jingle with audience laughing, followed by a UFO-like rendition of the same 3-note jingle.
- Knight: Drums with horse sounds accompanied by a synth tune and a 3-note xylophone jingle.
- Plant: An electronic guitar theme similar to the 2008 ident, with a 3-note xylophone jingle.
- Robot: A piano/guitar tune with a 3-note xylophone jingle. Like the 2008 ident, the announcer when he says "Настоящий Мистический", is computerized.
- Treasure: Fire sounds accompanied by a guitar tune, a 3-note xylophone jingle and the sound of a water drop in a cave.
- Yeti: A wind-blowing sound accompanied by a guitar tune with a 3-note xylophone jingle.
- Satellite: A 3-note morse code-like jingle followed by a guitar tune with a metallic whoosh.
- Scarecrow: The sounds of crickets in the streets with a 3-note triangle/accordion jingle, accompanied by a guitar tune.

Availability: The Deadman logo was spotted on a documentary DVD.