# Guilt

People and places / Expression / Sadness. Checked 2026-10-13.

The weight of having done something wrong.

- Use when: Confessions, honest brand stories, comedy of being caught.
- Phrase: the mouth opens to speak and closes again, the gaze drops to the floor and stays there, the head lowers, the throat moves on a hard swallow, a hand rubs the back of the neck
- Page: https://directorchair.ai/expression/guilt
- JSON: https://directorchair.ai/api/expression/guilt.json

## Watch out

- Never ask for a smile or for an emotion by name; describe the muscles. Asked-for smiles come back generated and forced. (measured; Director Chair field notes on video prompting (client feedback, Aug 2026))
- Put the trigger first (the door slams, she reads the message), then the performance. Without a trigger the reaction has no timing. (practitioner; Dan Kieft and Higgsfield's tested prompts via Director Chair field notes on video prompting)

## Three intensities

- **Subtle:** the eyes slide away from the other person, the lips tighten, a small swallow
- **Medium:** the mouth opens to speak and closes again, the gaze drops to the floor and stays there, the head lowers, the throat moves on a hard swallow, a hand rubs the back of the neck
- **Explosive:** the face turns fully away, both hands cover the mouth, the eyes squeeze shut, the shoulders curl in

## Reference: Guilt (Subtle)

> The mouth opens but no words come. The eyes slide down and away, the head lowers, a hard swallow moves through the throat, and one hand reaches to the back of the neck. The gaze stays on the floor.

Credit: Emotion Direction (seedance-emotion-direction.vercel.app). Source: https://seedance-emotion-media-3.vercel.app/videos/20-guilt.mp4
Clip: https://directorchair.ai/media/emotion-direction/20-guilt.mp4
Poster: https://directorchair.ai/media/emotion-direction/20-guilt.jpg

## Prompts

### Nano Banana Pro

```
[your subject] in [your setting]. The mouth opens to speak and closes again, the gaze drops to the floor and stays there, the head lowers, the throat moves on a hard swallow, a hand rubs the back of the neck.
Reference clip (Guilt): https://directorchair.ai/media/emotion-direction/20-guilt.mp4
```

### Nano Banana 2

```
[your subject] in [your setting]. The mouth opens to speak and closes again, the gaze drops to the floor and stays there, the head lowers, the throat moves on a hard swallow, a hand rubs the back of the neck.
Reference clip (Guilt): https://directorchair.ai/media/emotion-direction/20-guilt.mp4
```

### GPT Image 2.5

```
A photograph of [your subject] in [your setting].
People and framing: the mouth opens to speak and closes again, the gaze drops to the floor and stays there, the head lowers, the throat moves on a hard swallow, a hand rubs the back of the neck
Exclusions: no extra text, no watermark, no logo.
Reference clip (Guilt): https://directorchair.ai/media/emotion-direction/20-guilt.mp4
```

### Seedream 5

```
[your subject] in [your setting]. The mouth opens to speak and closes again, the gaze drops to the floor and stays there, the head lowers, the throat moves on a hard swallow, a hand rubs the back of the neck.
Reference clip (Guilt): https://directorchair.ai/media/emotion-direction/20-guilt.mp4
```

### Seedance 2.5

```
Scene: [your subject] in [your setting].
Shot 1 (0:00 to 0:05): The mouth opens to speak and closes again, the gaze drops to the floor and stays there, the head lowers, the throat moves on a hard swallow, a hand rubs the back of the neck. The mouth opens but no words come. The eyes slide down and away, the head lowers, a hard swallow moves through the throat, and one hand reaches to the back of the neck. The gaze stays on the floor.
Reference clip (Guilt): https://directorchair.ai/media/emotion-direction/20-guilt.mp4
```

### Seedance 2.0

```
Scene: [your subject] in [your setting].
Shot 1: The mouth opens to speak and closes again, the gaze drops to the floor and stays there, the head lowers, the throat moves on a hard swallow, a hand rubs the back of the neck. The mouth opens but no words come. The eyes slide down and away, the head lowers, a hard swallow moves through the throat, and one hand reaches to the back of the neck. The gaze stays on the floor.
Reference clip (Guilt): https://directorchair.ai/media/emotion-direction/20-guilt.mp4
```

### Kling 3.0

```
[your subject]. The mouth opens to speak and closes again, the gaze drops to the floor and stays there, the head lowers, the throat moves on a hard swallow, a hand rubs the back of the neck. The scene is [your setting].
Reference clip (Guilt): https://directorchair.ai/media/emotion-direction/20-guilt.mp4
```

### Veo 3.1

```
[your subject] in [your setting]. The mouth opens to speak and closes again, the gaze drops to the floor and stays there, the head lowers, the throat moves on a hard swallow, a hand rubs the back of the neck. Framing and subject stay as in the start image.
Reference clip (Guilt): https://directorchair.ai/media/emotion-direction/20-guilt.mp4
```

## Look further

- https://seedance-emotion-direction.vercel.app/ : a clip of this emotion performed in Seedance 2.5 (link only)

## Goes well with

- Embarrassment: https://directorchair.ai/expression/embarrassment
- Sadness: https://directorchair.ai/expression/sadness

## Source

Families, intensities and emotion names from Emotion Direction (names and structure only, read 13 Oct 2026); the directions are our own words in its grammar: body parts in the order they move, ending on what holds. Rules from Director Chair field notes on video prompting

Text CC BY 4.0, Director Chair (directorchair.ai). Reference clips and their card texts belong to their makers.