Line #6 Main/HostageVideo


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4	[[quoteright:350:[[Film/AmericanHostage https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_american_hostage_still_1.png]]]]
5
6	->''"Those aren’t the words of a certified clinical psychologist filing a report... those are the words of a woman with a bag over her head, sitting between a camera and a flag, moments before her third finger’s hacked off."''
7	-->-- '''Colm Mullan''', ''Fanfic/ChrysalisVisitsTheHague''
8
9	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 groups like Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.
10
11	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.
12
13	Other variations include placing the hostage in mortal peril with a ticking clock.
14
15	If the bad guys don't get what they want, things might turn into a SnuffFilm.
16
17	----
18	!!Examples:
19
20	[[foldercontrol]]
21	[[folder:FanWorks]]
22	''Fanfic/MyHeroAcademiaUnchainedPredator'': The Steel Sabers release a hostage video as a ploy to buy more time to empty out I-Island's support items before killing all the hostages. However, by the time the video is being filmed, Nine and his lieutenants are aware of the Slayer's presence on I-Island, but not ''where''. [[EnemyRisingBehind When they see the Slayer on I-Island, he is casually walking up behind the three Sabers]] before they watch him pull out a blood-covered chainsaw and do a PublicExecution, much to the whole world's horrified shock.
23	[[/folder]]
24	[[folder:Film]]
25	* The second ''[[Film/MissCongeniality Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous]]'' had a hostage video of Cheryl and Stan, which was the whole reason the rest of the movie happened.
26	* In ''Film/IronMan1'', Tony Stark is filmed with demands being made by the terrorists in Urdu. Audience members who don't [[BilingualBonus happen to speak that language]] won't find out until later [[spoiler:that it's not a ransom demand. The terrorists were hired by Obadiah Stane to kill Stark, and they're demanding more money to finish the job now they realise who their famous captive is.]]
27	* In ''Film/TheKingdom2007'', Adam Leavitt (Creator/JasonBateman) is used to make one after being kidnapped by Saudi terrorists. It gets interrupted when his colleagues arrive and kill or wound his captors.
28	* ''Film/HotShotsPartDeux''. The Iraqis force Colonel Walters to make a video saying [[BlatantLies how well treated he is]] (the obscene hand signals he's giving make it clear what we're supposed to think of this).
29	* In ''Film/{{Blooded}}'', the AnimalWrongsGroup forces each of the hunters they have just [[HuntingTheMostDangerousGame pursued across the island]] to read a prepared statement denouncing hunting and renouncing their previous beliefs, which they video and intend to up load to the web. Liv, Ben, Charlie and Eve all comply, but Lucas regards his position as the public face of the hunting lobby as being too important and remains DefiantToTheEnd.
30	[[/folder]]
31
32	[[folder:Literature]]
33	* In ''Literature/TheRedVixenAdventures'' Rolas must make one for his family to see after he's captured by the titular SpacePirate.
34	* Used in ''Literature/ArtemisFowl: The Arctic Incident''. Artemis then gets Foaly to trace the video.
35	** Used again in ''The Last Guardian'', by [[spoiler:Opal bartering her freedom for her younger self's life.]] [[spoiler:She doesn't uphold her end of the deal.]]
36	[[/folder]]
37
38	[[folder:Live Action TV]]
39	* ''Series/TheBill'' had this happen to Abigail Nixon, who was tied up in a shipping container and left to suffocate.
40	* ''Series/TwentyFour'' likes this trope a lot, such as with Secretary Heller in Season 4.
41	* ''Series/{{Airwolf}}'' did this once, with a group of totally uncooperative hostages.
42	* ''Series/{{CSI}}'' had one with where the rest of the time could watch their teammate Nick Stokes trapped in a box and BuriedAlive.
43	* ''Series/{{Castle\|2009}}'' did this with some guy that had his son kidnapped. The son manages to sneak in a hidden message.
44	* In the [[Recap/BlackMirrorTheNationalAnthem first episode]] of ''Series/BlackMirror'' 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.
45	* In an episode of ''Series/JonathanCreek'', a confusing hostage tape kicks off the mystery. The plot twist is [[spoiler:that the tape in question was not the hostage tape, the contents were being livestreamed to the TV]].
46	* ''Series/{{Numb3rs}}'' did this in "Prime Suspect" where Ethan Burdick's daughter is ransomed for his solution to an equation, with his daughter, Emily, being forced to tell him the demands.
47	* The baddies on ''Series/DayBreak2006'' leave one these behind showing Hopper's brother-in-law bruised up and tied to a chair.
48	* In the short-lived 1990's spy series ''Series/{{Under Cover\|1991}}'', a senior official in the GovernmentAgencyOfFiction is kidnapped and forced to give one of these to relay their demands, concluded by him screaming as the terrorists start torturing him.
49	[[/folder]]
50
51	[[folder:VideoGames]]
52	* One piece of [[AllThereInTheManual background material]] from ''VideoGame/{{Homefront}}'''s tie-in website was a video released by radical American militia-types showing a captured Korean soldier forced to denounce his home country and praise America. The site's "curator", ostensibly using the site to chronicle everything following America's collapse to [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture the present day]], expressed discomfort over including the video, since it showed just how far America had really fallen, but felt compelled to anyway for the sake of completion.
53	* In ''VideoGame/NotForBroadcast'', Katie Brightman, an economist known for speaking in support of the Advance government, is abducted by [[LaResistance Disrupt]] and forced to read out a speech admitting that her praise for Advance was misplaced. On Day 912, you have the option of playing a recording of the speech in place of one of the ad breaks, bolstering support for Disrupt's ongoing uprising.
54	* Yandere-chan uses this in ''VideoGame/YandereSimulator'', kidnapping Musume Ronshaku in order to get her father Mr. Ronshaku, a notorious LoanShark, to release Kokona's father and all his other clients from their debt to him.
55	[[/folder]]
56
57	[[folder:WebAnimation]]
58	* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'': In ''Strong Bad in Jail Cartoon'', Strong Bad tries to make one after kidnapping the Poopsmith for ransom. It lasts ''five seconds'' before he's discovered by Homestar, who followed a "mysterious trail" left by the Poopsmith, much to Strong Bad's disgust.
59	[[/folder]]
60
61	[[folder:WebOriginal]]
62	* ''WebVideo/JoueurDuGrenier'': For the ''VideoGame/MissionImpossible'' review, Fred abducts a games journalist who originally gave the game a glowing review, forcing to read the original column out loud.
63	* WebVideo/TheGameHeroes do this with WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic when they kidnap him. What do they want? [[SeriousBusiness More people to buy their t-shirts]].
64	* Creator/ThisIsIt used this trope to promote their Kickstarter for ''WebVideo/DontHugMeImScared'' . The first one is a more descriptive video showing the red thing reading out the captor's demands (money) while a synthesized voice describes what the show is about and what the kickstarter is for. The next two are much shorter and really, ''really'' threatening.
65	* Rapunzel's kidnapper has her make one in ''WebVideo/UniversityEverAfter'', in which she reads a riddle giving her friends a twelve hours to figure out what the kidnapper wants and where they're keeping her.
66	[[/folder]]
67
68	[[folder:RealLife]]
69	* Al-Qaeda was very fond of this trope and frequently released them online, which was later used by other Islamist terrorist groups. Unfortunately, they don't have happy endings and we will NOT link to any of them.
70	[[/folder]]

Context Main / HostageVideo