Example scene
Lin Xia reads “Sis, don't look back” on the old phone and goes from confusion to fear. A 4-second chest-up close-up, the emotional peak of the episode.
Steps
Write the expression as a chain: trigger → brows, eyes, mouth → eyeline → end state.
Start the first frame neutral-to-puzzled, not already at the final emotion.
Describe only 2–3 facial changes, e.g. brows tighten, eyes tremble slightly, she holds her breath.
Keep the camera locked or pushing in very slowly, with almost no head movement.
Check the first, middle and last frames against the master to confirm the face holds.
Bring in dialogue only after the final expression settles, or leave the shot silent except for breath.
Prompts
First frame
[Paste fixed character description], chest-up close-up, looking down at a lit old phone in her hands, screen glow lighting her face from below, expression calm with a hint of puzzlement. Blurred store shelves behind, cool teal palette, vertical 9:16. Phone screen unreadable.
Video
As she reads, her brows slowly draw together, her eyes widen slightly, her lips press together and she holds her breath, eyes fixed on the screen. Head almost still, camera pushing in very slowly. Restrained expression change. Keep facial proportions, hair and light direction unchanged.
Negative
exaggerated expression, screaming with mouth wide open, distorted features, changing face shape, large head movement, on-screen text
✕ Failed take
The prompt said “she is terrified and screams”: the mouth stretches out of shape, the eyes become uneven, and at second 3 the face widens until it looks like someone else in a horror film.
✓ Passing take
Over 4 seconds you watch fear creep onto her face. Pass criteria: first and last frames clearly differ in expression; proportions match the master; with sound off you can read “she just saw something terrible”.
Before/after clips are in production. Follow the steps and prompts to reproduce the result.
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