Nervous fake smile

A smile with nothing behind it; the viewer senses the lie.

Use when: Comedy, awkward situations, before shots in ads.

Prompt instructions

Scene: [your subject] in [your setting]. Shot 1 (0:00 to 0:05): The mouth stretches wide while the eyes do not crease at all, the blinking speeds up, a hard swallow, the gaze drops and the strained smile snaps back on. The mouth stretches into a smile while the eyes stay flat, with no crinkling at the corners. Blinking speeds up, the throat makes a hard swallow, and the gaze drops before the strained smile snaps back into place. Reference clip (Nervous Fake Smile): https://directorchair.ai/media/emotion-direction/25-nervous-fake-smile.mp4

Download reference

Seedance 2.5 reads labelled blocks with timecodes.

Reference clip by Emotion Direction, shown with permission.

SubjectSetting

Say it like this

The mouth stretches wide while the eyes do not crease at all, the blinking speeds up, a hard swallow, the gaze drops and the strained smile snaps back on.

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

Notes

Three intensities

Subtle: the mouth smiles but the eyes stay flat, one quick swallow
Medium: the mouth stretches wide while the eyes do not crease at all, the blinking speeds up, a hard swallow, the gaze drops and the strained smile snaps back on
Explosive: a grin frozen too long, a laugh that comes out too high, the eyes darting for an exit, sweat on the temple

The maker's card

The mouth stretches into a smile while the eyes stay flat, with no crinkling at the corners. Blinking speeds up, the throat makes a hard swallow, and the gaze drops before the strained smile snaps back into place.Subtle. Emotion Direction (seedance-emotion-direction.vercel.app)

Confidence folding inward; very human.EmbarrassmentPrompt

Restless worry that will not settle.AnxietyPrompt

Sources

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 Checked 2026-10-13.

Emotion Direction: a clip of this emotion performed in Seedance 2.5 (link only)

For agents: this card as markdown, as JSON.

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