One Emotion, Six Behaviors
Six ways to prompt anger without the word angry. Six stills, six prompts, Midjourney.
The prompts
Copy them, run them, change whatever you want. No signup.
photorealistic cinematic film still, intimate chamber drama with spare minimalist production design. A woman in her mid-thirties with shoulder-length dark brown hair pulled loosely back, light olive skin and a few freckles across her nose, wearing a faded oxblood-red wool crewneck sweater, sits alone at a small round oak table in a bare apartment kitchen, her knuckles white on a coffee cup. Medium shot from across the table, framed from the waist up, her face and both hands in frame, her head in the upper third. Behind her, a plain slate-gray plaster wall, the edge of one tall window and an empty counter holding a single white enamel kettle, all of it soft and far out of focus. Early morning: a hard low beam of winter sun from the window at camera left rakes across her face and the tabletop, warm 3500K sunlight against a cool blue-gray ambient fill, 4:1 contrast, the far side of her face and the wall behind her falling into soft blue shadow. Her sunlit cheek is the brightest thing in the frame; the oxblood sweater is the most saturated color against the cool gray room. Shot on an 85mm lens at f/2, shallow depth of field holding her eyes and hands sharp, camera at eye level, Kodak Vision3 250D color, deep but detailed shadows, fine film grain. The image fills the entire frame edge to edge, no borders or bars. --ar 9:16 --raw --stylize 150 --v 8.2 --relax --no painting, illustration, letterbox, black bars, borders, matte, split screen, diptych, triptych, collage, grid, text
photorealistic cinematic film still, intimate chamber drama with spare minimalist production design. A woman in her mid-thirties with shoulder-length dark brown hair pulled loosely back, light olive skin and a few freckles across her nose, wearing a faded oxblood-red wool crewneck sweater, sits alone at a small round oak table in a bare apartment kitchen, her teeth clenched, the muscle standing out along her jaw. Medium shot from across the table, framed from the waist up, her face and both hands in frame, her head in the upper third. Behind her, a plain slate-gray plaster wall, the edge of one tall window and an empty counter holding a single white enamel kettle, all of it soft and far out of focus. Early morning: a hard low beam of winter sun from the window at camera left rakes across her face and the tabletop, warm 3500K sunlight against a cool blue-gray ambient fill, 4:1 contrast, the far side of her face and the wall behind her falling into soft blue shadow. Her sunlit cheek is the brightest thing in the frame; the oxblood sweater is the most saturated color against the cool gray room. Shot on an 85mm lens at f/2, shallow depth of field holding her eyes and hands sharp, camera at eye level, Kodak Vision3 250D color, deep but detailed shadows, fine film grain. The image fills the entire frame edge to edge, no borders or bars. --ar 9:16 --raw --stylize 150 --v 8.2 --relax --no painting, illustration, letterbox, black bars, borders, matte, split screen, diptych, triptych, collage, grid, text
photorealistic cinematic film still, intimate chamber drama with spare minimalist production design. A woman in her mid-thirties with shoulder-length dark brown hair pulled loosely back, light olive skin and a few freckles across her nose, wearing a faded oxblood-red wool crewneck sweater, sits alone at a small round oak table in a bare apartment kitchen, smiling a too-careful smile that stops below her eyes. Medium shot from across the table, framed from the waist up, her face and both hands in frame, her head in the upper third. Behind her, a plain slate-gray plaster wall, the edge of one tall window and an empty counter holding a single white enamel kettle, all of it soft and far out of focus. Early morning: a hard low beam of winter sun from the window at camera left rakes across her face and the tabletop, warm 3500K sunlight against a cool blue-gray ambient fill, 4:1 contrast, the far side of her face and the wall behind her falling into soft blue shadow. Her sunlit cheek is the brightest thing in the frame; the oxblood sweater is the most saturated color against the cool gray room. Shot on an 85mm lens at f/2, shallow depth of field holding her eyes and hands sharp, camera at eye level, Kodak Vision3 250D color, deep but detailed shadows, fine film grain. The image fills the entire frame edge to edge, no borders or bars. --ar 9:16 --raw --stylize 150 --v 8.2 --relax --no painting, illustration, letterbox, black bars, borders, matte, split screen, diptych, triptych, collage, grid, text
photorealistic cinematic film still, intimate chamber drama with spare minimalist production design. A woman in her mid-thirties with shoulder-length dark brown hair pulled loosely back, light olive skin and a few freckles across her nose, wearing a faded oxblood-red wool crewneck sweater, sits alone at a small round oak table in a bare apartment kitchen, staring at the phone in her hand without blinking. Medium shot from across the table, framed from the waist up, her face and both hands in frame, her head in the upper third. Behind her, a plain slate-gray plaster wall, the edge of one tall window and an empty counter holding a single white enamel kettle, all of it soft and far out of focus. Early morning: a hard low beam of winter sun from the window at camera left rakes across her face and the tabletop, warm 3500K sunlight against a cool blue-gray ambient fill, 4:1 contrast, the far side of her face and the wall behind her falling into soft blue shadow. Her sunlit cheek is the brightest thing in the frame; the oxblood sweater is the most saturated color against the cool gray room. Shot on an 85mm lens at f/2, shallow depth of field holding her eyes and hands sharp, camera at eye level, Kodak Vision3 250D color, deep but detailed shadows, fine film grain. The image fills the entire frame edge to edge, no borders or bars. --ar 9:16 --raw --stylize 150 --v 8.2 --relax --no painting, illustration, letterbox, black bars, borders, matte, split screen, diptych, triptych, collage, grid, text
photorealistic cinematic film still, intimate chamber drama with spare minimalist production design. A woman in her mid-thirties with shoulder-length dark brown hair pulled loosely back, light olive skin and a few freckles across her nose, wearing a faded oxblood-red wool crewneck sweater, sits alone at a small round oak table in a bare apartment kitchen, her arms folded tight across her chest, chin up. Medium shot from across the table, framed from the waist up, her face and both hands in frame, her head in the upper third. Behind her, a plain slate-gray plaster wall, the edge of one tall window and an empty counter holding a single white enamel kettle, all of it soft and far out of focus. Early morning: a hard low beam of winter sun from the window at camera left rakes across her face and the tabletop, warm 3500K sunlight against a cool blue-gray ambient fill, 4:1 contrast, the far side of her face and the wall behind her falling into soft blue shadow. Her sunlit cheek is the brightest thing in the frame; the oxblood sweater is the most saturated color against the cool gray room. Shot on an 85mm lens at f/2, shallow depth of field holding her eyes and hands sharp, camera at eye level, Kodak Vision3 250D color, deep but detailed shadows, fine film grain. The image fills the entire frame edge to edge, no borders or bars. --ar 9:16 --raw --stylize 150 --v 8.2 --relax --no painting, illustration, letterbox, black bars, borders, matte, split screen, diptych, triptych, collage, grid, text
photorealistic cinematic film still, intimate chamber drama with spare minimalist production design. A woman in her mid-thirties with shoulder-length dark brown hair pulled loosely back, light olive skin and a few freckles across her nose, wearing a faded oxblood-red wool crewneck sweater, sits alone at a small round oak table in a bare apartment kitchen, one hand pressed flat and hard on the table. Medium shot from across the table, framed from the waist up, her face and both hands in frame, her head in the upper third. Behind her, a plain slate-gray plaster wall, the edge of one tall window and an empty counter holding a single white enamel kettle, all of it soft and far out of focus. Early morning: a hard low beam of winter sun from the window at camera left rakes across her face and the tabletop, warm 3500K sunlight against a cool blue-gray ambient fill, 4:1 contrast, the far side of her face and the wall behind her falling into soft blue shadow. Her sunlit cheek is the brightest thing in the frame; the oxblood sweater is the most saturated color against the cool gray room. Shot on an 85mm lens at f/2, shallow depth of field holding her eyes and hands sharp, camera at eye level, Kodak Vision3 250D color, deep but detailed shadows, fine film grain. The image fills the entire frame edge to edge, no borders or bars. --ar 9:16 --raw --stylize 150 --v 8.2 --relax --no painting, illustration, letterbox, black bars, borders, matte, split screen, diptych, triptych, collage, grid, text
Why it works
These six prompts are the same except for one phrase. Each one names a single thing the woman does. None of them says angry.
Put it in the hands. her knuckles white on a coffee cup gives her something to squeeze. A hard grip shows the force she is holding back.
Put it in the jaw. her teeth clenched, the muscle standing out along her jaw shows she is stopping herself from speaking.
Put it in the smile. smiling a too-careful smile that stops below her eyes makes the mouth and the eyes disagree. When the mouth smiles and the eyes do not, the smile reads as a warning.
Put it in the eyes. staring at the phone in her hand without blinking points her anger at something. A fixed stare shows us where it is aimed.
Put it in the arms. her arms folded tight across her chest, chin up uses her whole body. Folded arms put a wall between her and you.
Press it into the table. one hand pressed flat and hard on the table gives the force somewhere to go. A hand pressed flat shows she is pushing the anger down.
Before you run it
Pick the behavior that fits the person. Nobody is angry in the same way. A quiet person grips the cup; a proud one lifts the chin. Choose the one your character would do.
Change only the behavior. Keep the rest of the prompt word for word, so the behavior is the only thing that moves.
Expect the face to change between runs. The description of her hair, skin and sweater keeps her close, but Midjourney draws a new face each time. Run each prompt more than once and keep the frames that look most alike.
Use the same settings. All six were made with --raw --stylize 150 --v 8.2.
To make it yours, keep the behavior and change the rest. Swap the woman and the kitchen for your own character and place.