Five Ways to Show Fear
Five ways to prompt fear without the word scared. Five stills, five 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, both hands pressed over her mouth. 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, the same plain slate-gray plaster wall, the dark glass of one tall window and an empty counter holding a single white enamel kettle, all of it soft and far out of focus. Night: the only light is a single low pendant lamp with a warm tungsten bulb hanging just above the table, a tight 2700K pool on her face, her hands and the tabletop, falling off fast so the wall and window behind her sink into deep blue-black shadow with faint texture still visible, 6:1 contrast. Her lit face is the brightest thing in the frame; the oxblood sweater is the most saturated color. Shot on an 85mm lens at f/2, shallow depth of field holding her eyes and hands sharp, camera at eye level, Kodak Vision3 500T 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 past camera toward the hallway, her eyes wide. 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, the same plain slate-gray plaster wall, the dark glass of one tall window and an empty counter holding a single white enamel kettle, all of it soft and far out of focus. Night: the only light is a single low pendant lamp with a warm tungsten bulb hanging just above the table, a tight 2700K pool on her face, her hands and the tabletop, falling off fast so the wall and window behind her sink into deep blue-black shadow with faint texture still visible, 6:1 contrast. Her lit face is the brightest thing in the frame; the oxblood sweater is the most saturated color. Shot on an 85mm lens at f/2, shallow depth of field holding her eyes and hands sharp, camera at eye level, Kodak Vision3 500T 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 phone pressed flat against her chest with both hands. 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, the same plain slate-gray plaster wall, the dark glass of one tall window and an empty counter holding a single white enamel kettle, all of it soft and far out of focus. Night: the only light is a single low pendant lamp with a warm tungsten bulb hanging just above the table, a tight 2700K pool on her face, her hands and the tabletop, falling off fast so the wall and window behind her sink into deep blue-black shadow with faint texture still visible, 6:1 contrast. Her lit face is the brightest thing in the frame; the oxblood sweater is the most saturated color. Shot on an 85mm lens at f/2, shallow depth of field holding her eyes and hands sharp, camera at eye level, Kodak Vision3 500T 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 shoulders pulled up near her ears, arms wrapped around herself. 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, the same plain slate-gray plaster wall, the dark glass of one tall window and an empty counter holding a single white enamel kettle, all of it soft and far out of focus. Night: the only light is a single low pendant lamp with a warm tungsten bulb hanging just above the table, a tight 2700K pool on her face, her hands and the tabletop, falling off fast so the wall and window behind her sink into deep blue-black shadow with faint texture still visible, 6:1 contrast. Her lit face is the brightest thing in the frame; the oxblood sweater is the most saturated color. Shot on an 85mm lens at f/2, shallow depth of field holding her eyes and hands sharp, camera at eye level, Kodak Vision3 500T 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, turned halfway in her chair, looking back over her shoulder. 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, the same plain slate-gray plaster wall, the dark glass of one tall window and an empty counter holding a single white enamel kettle, all of it soft and far out of focus. Night: the only light is a single low pendant lamp with a warm tungsten bulb hanging just above the table, a tight 2700K pool on her face, her hands and the tabletop, falling off fast so the wall and window behind her sink into deep blue-black shadow with faint texture still visible, 6:1 contrast. Her lit face is the brightest thing in the frame; the oxblood sweater is the most saturated color. Shot on an 85mm lens at f/2, shallow depth of field holding her eyes and hands sharp, camera at eye level, Kodak Vision3 500T 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 five prompts are the same except for one phrase. Each one names a single thing the woman does. None of them says scared. She is the same woman in the same kitchen as the anger prompts, now at night.
Put it in the hands. both hands pressed over her mouth shows she is trying not to make a sound.
Put it in the eyes. staring past camera toward the hallway, her eyes wide sends her look out of the frame. The danger is somewhere we cannot see.
Put it in what she holds. her phone pressed flat against her chest with both hands keeps the one thing that can help her close. We know what she is ready to do.
Put it in the shoulders. her shoulders pulled up near her ears, arms wrapped around herself makes her smaller.
Put it behind her. turned halfway in her chair, looking back over her shoulder makes us look where she looks. We search the dark room behind her too.
Before you run it
Pick the behavior that fits the scene. Nobody is scared in the same way. A person hiding goes quiet; a person who heard something turns around. Choose the one your scene needs.
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 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 five 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.