# Nervous fake smile

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

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

- Use when: Comedy, awkward situations, before shots in ads.
- Phrase: 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
- Page: https://directorchair.ai/expression/nervous-fake-smile
- JSON: https://directorchair.ai/api/expression/nervous-fake-smile.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 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

## Reference: Nervous Fake Smile (Subtle)

> 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.

Credit: Emotion Direction (seedance-emotion-direction.vercel.app). Source: https://seedance-emotion-media-3.vercel.app/videos/25-nervous-fake-smile.mp4
Clip: https://directorchair.ai/media/emotion-direction/25-nervous-fake-smile.mp4
Poster: https://directorchair.ai/media/emotion-direction/25-nervous-fake-smile.jpg

## Prompts

### Nano Banana Pro

```
[your subject] in [your setting]. 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.
Reference clip (Nervous Fake Smile): https://directorchair.ai/media/emotion-direction/25-nervous-fake-smile.mp4
```

### Nano Banana 2

```
[your subject] in [your setting]. 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.
Reference clip (Nervous Fake Smile): https://directorchair.ai/media/emotion-direction/25-nervous-fake-smile.mp4
```

### GPT Image 2.5

```
A photograph of [your subject] in [your setting].
People and framing: 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
Exclusions: no extra text, no watermark, no logo.
Reference clip (Nervous Fake Smile): https://directorchair.ai/media/emotion-direction/25-nervous-fake-smile.mp4
```

### Seedream 5

```
[your subject] in [your setting]. 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.
Reference clip (Nervous Fake Smile): https://directorchair.ai/media/emotion-direction/25-nervous-fake-smile.mp4
```

### Seedance 2.5

```
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
```

### Seedance 2.0

```
Scene: [your subject] in [your setting].
Shot 1: 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
```

### Kling 3.0

```
[your subject]. 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 scene is [your setting].
Reference clip (Nervous Fake Smile): https://directorchair.ai/media/emotion-direction/25-nervous-fake-smile.mp4
```

### Veo 3.1

```
[your subject] in [your setting]. 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. Framing and subject stay as in the start image.
Reference clip (Nervous Fake Smile): https://directorchair.ai/media/emotion-direction/25-nervous-fake-smile.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
- Anxiety: https://directorchair.ai/expression/anxiety

## 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.