{
 "slug": "late-reactions",
 "name": "Reactions arrive late",
 "category": "expression",
 "group": "Direction rules",
 "media": [
  "video"
 ],
 "checked": "2026-10-13",
 "effect": "Timing that feels live: people react like people, not like a chorus.",
 "use_when": "Dialogue, group scenes, creator content.",
 "phrase": "the reaction arrives half a beat after the line, the smile starts small and grows, the people in the background react at different moments",
 "pitfalls": [
  {
   "text": "Extras who react in sync are a strong AI tell. Give the background people their own small actions.",
   "evidence": "vendor",
   "source": "Higgsfield's tested UGC prompt via Director Chair field notes on video prompting"
  }
 ],
 "per_model": [],
 "external_refs": [],
 "licensed": [],
 "site_names": [],
 "related": [
  "listener-acts",
  "emotion-as-behaviour"
 ],
 "rights": "own-work",
 "evidence": "film-craft",
 "source": {
  "url": null,
  "note": "Rules from Director Chair field notes on video prompting"
 },
 "body": "",
 "shown_with": null,
 "url": "https://directorchair.ai/expression/late-reactions",
 "markdown": "https://directorchair.ai/expression/late-reactions.md",
 "prompts": {
  "seedance-2.5": "Scene: [your subject] in [your setting].\nShot 1 (0:00 to 0:05): the reaction arrives half a beat after the line, the smile starts small and grows, the people in the background react at different moments",
  "seedance-2.0": "Scene: [your subject] in [your setting].\nShot 1: the reaction arrives half a beat after the line, the smile starts small and grows, the people in the background react at different moments",
  "kling-3": "[your subject]. The reaction arrives half a beat after the line, the smile starts small and grows, the people in the background react at different moments. The scene is [your setting].",
  "veo-3.1": "[your subject] in [your setting]. The reaction arrives half a beat after the line, the smile starts small and grows, the people in the background react at different moments. Framing and subject stay as in the start image."
 },
 "licence": {
  "code": "MIT",
  "text": "CC BY 4.0",
  "third_party": "Clips and card texts inside a \"licensed\" block belong to their makers and are shown with permission and credit."
 }
}