# Terror

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

Fear that will not let go; the viewer feels the threat.

- Use when: Horror, thriller, a stunt with real stakes.
- Phrase: the brows lift and pull together, the eyes stay wide and unblinking, the mouth stretches open, the chin pulls back, the chest rises and falls fast and shallow
- Page: https://directorchair.ai/expression/terror
- JSON: https://directorchair.ai/api/expression/terror.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 breath stops, the eyes fix on one point, the hands go still
- **Medium:** the brows lift and pull together, the eyes stay wide and unblinking, the mouth stretches open, the chin pulls back, the chest rises and falls fast and shallow
- **Explosive:** the body presses back against the wall, a scream with no sound, the hands claw at the surface behind, the eyes never leave the threat

## Reference: Terror (Explosive)

> The eyebrows pull up and together, the eyes lock wide open without blinking, the mouth stretches open, the chin tucks back, and the chest rises and falls with fast, shallow breaths.

Credit: Emotion Direction (seedance-emotion-direction.vercel.app). Source: https://seedance-emotion-media-1.vercel.app/videos/03-terror.mp4
Clip: https://directorchair.ai/media/emotion-direction/03-terror.mp4
Poster: https://directorchair.ai/media/emotion-direction/03-terror.jpg

## Prompts

### Nano Banana Pro

```
[your subject] in [your setting]. The brows lift and pull together, the eyes stay wide and unblinking, the mouth stretches open, the chin pulls back, the chest rises and falls fast and shallow.
Reference clip (Terror): https://directorchair.ai/media/emotion-direction/03-terror.mp4
```

### Nano Banana 2

```
[your subject] in [your setting]. The brows lift and pull together, the eyes stay wide and unblinking, the mouth stretches open, the chin pulls back, the chest rises and falls fast and shallow.
Reference clip (Terror): https://directorchair.ai/media/emotion-direction/03-terror.mp4
```

### GPT Image 2.5

```
A photograph of [your subject] in [your setting].
People and framing: the brows lift and pull together, the eyes stay wide and unblinking, the mouth stretches open, the chin pulls back, the chest rises and falls fast and shallow
Exclusions: no extra text, no watermark, no logo.
Reference clip (Terror): https://directorchair.ai/media/emotion-direction/03-terror.mp4
```

### Seedream 5

```
[your subject] in [your setting]. The brows lift and pull together, the eyes stay wide and unblinking, the mouth stretches open, the chin pulls back, the chest rises and falls fast and shallow.
Reference clip (Terror): https://directorchair.ai/media/emotion-direction/03-terror.mp4
```

### Seedance 2.5

```
Scene: [your subject] in [your setting].
Shot 1 (0:00 to 0:05): The brows lift and pull together, the eyes stay wide and unblinking, the mouth stretches open, the chin pulls back, the chest rises and falls fast and shallow. The eyebrows pull up and together, the eyes lock wide open without blinking, the mouth stretches open, the chin tucks back, and the chest rises and falls with fast, shallow breaths.
Reference clip (Terror): https://directorchair.ai/media/emotion-direction/03-terror.mp4
```

### Seedance 2.0

```
Scene: [your subject] in [your setting].
Shot 1: The brows lift and pull together, the eyes stay wide and unblinking, the mouth stretches open, the chin pulls back, the chest rises and falls fast and shallow. The eyebrows pull up and together, the eyes lock wide open without blinking, the mouth stretches open, the chin tucks back, and the chest rises and falls with fast, shallow breaths.
Reference clip (Terror): https://directorchair.ai/media/emotion-direction/03-terror.mp4
```

### Kling 3.0

```
[your subject]. The brows lift and pull together, the eyes stay wide and unblinking, the mouth stretches open, the chin pulls back, the chest rises and falls fast and shallow. The scene is [your setting].
Reference clip (Terror): https://directorchair.ai/media/emotion-direction/03-terror.mp4
```

### Veo 3.1

```
[your subject] in [your setting]. The brows lift and pull together, the eyes stay wide and unblinking, the mouth stretches open, the chin pulls back, the chest rises and falls fast and shallow. Framing and subject stay as in the start image.
Reference clip (Terror): https://directorchair.ai/media/emotion-direction/03-terror.mp4
```

## Look further

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

## Goes well with

- Anxiety: https://directorchair.ai/expression/anxiety
- Shock: https://directorchair.ai/expression/shock

## 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.