Smug

Quiet superiority; the person knows they won.

Use when: Comparison ads, a winner, comedic confidence.

Prompt instructions

Scene: [your subject] in [your setting]. Shot 1 (0:00 to 0:05): She half-closes her eyes, lets a slow lopsided smirk creep up on one side, raises her eyebrows once, tips her chin up a touch, and keeps looking straight at him with that smirk. The eyelids lower, one corner of the mouth pulls into a slow smirk, the eyebrows rise once and settle, and the chin lifts slightly. The smirk holds through unbroken eye contact. Reference clip (Smug / Gloating): https://directorchair.ai/media/emotion-direction/11-smug-gloating.mp4

Download reference

Seedance 2.5 reads labelled blocks with timecodes.

Reference clip by Emotion Direction, shown with permission.

SubjectSetting

Say it like this

She half-closes her eyes, lets a slow lopsided smirk creep up on one side, raises her eyebrows once, tips her chin up a touch, and keeps looking straight at him with that smirk.

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: one mouth corner lifts, the lids lower slightly
Medium: she half-closes her eyes, lets a slow lopsided smirk creep up on one side, raises her eyebrows once, tips her chin up a touch, and keeps looking straight at him with that smirk
Explosive: leaning back with the hands behind the head, a wide knowing grin, a slow nod, the eyebrows raised

The maker's card

The eyelids lower, one corner of the mouth pulls into a slow smirk, the eyebrows rise once and settle, and the chin lifts slightly. The smirk holds through unbroken eye contact.Medium. Emotion Direction (seedance-emotion-direction.vercel.app)

Quiet satisfaction in something done well.PridePrompt

Patience running out; playful or dismissive.Eye rollPrompt

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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