# The listener acts too

People and places / Expression / Direction rules. Checked 2026-10-13.

Both people in a dialogue feel alive.

- Use when: Interviews, two-person ads, sketches.
- Phrase: while she talks he is already chuckling, his thumb turns the cap of the pen and stops when she makes her point
- Page: https://directorchair.ai/expression/listener-acts
- JSON: https://directorchair.ai/api/expression/listener-acts.json

## Watch out

- An unwritten reaction comes back as a stare and a pause. Give the listener a reaction and one small secondary action. (practitioner; Rourke Heath (25 Sep 2026) via Director Chair field notes on video prompting)

## Prompts

### Seedance 2.5

```
Scene: [your subject] in [your setting].
Shot 1 (0:00 to 0:05): while she talks he is already chuckling, his thumb turns the cap of the pen and stops when she makes her point
```

### Seedance 2.0

```
Scene: [your subject] in [your setting].
Shot 1: while she talks he is already chuckling, his thumb turns the cap of the pen and stops when she makes her point
```

### Kling 3.0

```
[your subject]. While she talks he is already chuckling, his thumb turns the cap of the pen and stops when she makes her point. The scene is [your setting].
```

### Veo 3.1

```
[your subject] in [your setting]. While she talks he is already chuckling, his thumb turns the cap of the pen and stops when she makes her point. Framing and subject stay as in the start image.
```

## Goes well with

- Reactions arrive late: https://directorchair.ai/expression/late-reactions
- Two-shot: https://directorchair.ai/shot/two-shot

## Source

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.