Hostage Video

A more modern version of the classic ransom note, gaining popularity in recent years with the increasing use of the internet and real life use by the Al-Qaeda franchise.

Basically, our particular hostage is tied to a chair with a flag backdrop, while one or more bad guys in balaclavas look menacing with firearms. Then the hostage is forced to a) denounce his country b) read out his captors' demands c) beg his nation's leaders to help or d) a combination thereof.

Other variations include placing the hostage in mortal peril with a ticking clock.

If the bad guys don't get what they want, things might turn into a Snuff Film.

Film

 * The second Miss Congeniality had a hostage video of Cheryl and Stan, which was the whole reason the rest of the movie happened.
 * Iron Man The captured Tony Stark starts in one of these only later in the film do he learn

Live Action TV

 * The Bill had this happen to Abigail Nixon, who was tied up in a shipping container and left to suffocate.
 * Twenty Four likes this trope a lot, such as with Secretary Heller in Season 4.
 * Airwolf did this once, with a group of totally uncooperative hostages.
 * CSI had one with where the rest of the time could watch their teammate Nick Stokes trapped in a box and Buried Alive.
 * Castle did this with some guy that had his son kidnapped. The son manages to sneak in a hidden message.
 * In the first episode of Black Mirror a member of the royal family gets kidnapped with the single demand of the Prime Minster to have sex with a pig on live TV. The real kicker is that it's sent over youtube so everybody knows about it.

Literature

 * Used in Artemis Fowl The Arctic Incident. Artemis then gets Foaly to trace the video.

Web Original

 * The Game Heroes do this with The Nostalgia Critic when they kidnap him. What do they want? More people to buy their t-shirts.

Western Animation

 * In one episode of Fantomette, the heroine's best friend once tried to force Silver Mask to reveal what happened to her parents but his Co-Dragons rescue him and he takes advantage of it to pretend he's been abducted and ask for a ranson from town. He gave a Hostage Video where he unwittingly clued the heroine to his whereabouts.