History Main / DoorFocus

An {{Inver|ted}}sion of this can occur when the remaining characters and audience both expect the departed character to return but they don't, emphasizing the serious tone of the situation.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyANewGeneration'': When Sunny first leaves her house for her demonstration, her closing the door knocks a nearby picture of her and her dad askew. The camera lingers on the door for a moment, after which it cracks open and Sunny's hoof pops back through to right the picture.

%%* ''Film/{{Airplane}}'': Used for a RunningGag.
%%-->'''[[Creator/LeslieNielsen Rumack]]''': I just want to tell you both good luck. We're all counting on you.

* ''Film/AShotInTheDark'' spoofs this trope. Inspector Clouseau tries to pull it off, but he left the door open when he walked out, and as he turns to walk back in someone tries to close it -- which means he puts his outstretched hand through the frosted-glass window, so he awkwardly leaves without saying whatever he intended to.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheCupheadShow'': In "[[Recap/TheCupheadShowS1E2BabyBottle Baby Bottle]]", after Elder Kettle warns the boys to behave when he's out of the house, the camera lingers on the door for a while and he soon pops back in to glare at them before leaving again. The cups keep looking at the door for a while after this; when they're certain he's not coming back, they immediately start fighting.

** "[[Recap/RickAndMortyS1E5MeeseeksAndDestroy Meeseeks and Destroy]]": After Rick and Morty exit the fantasy world via portal hole, the camera lingers on the spot where the door disappeared. Sure enough, it reopens a moment later when Rick pops back through to shoot a villain dead.
** "[[Recap/RickAndMortyS5E3ARickconvenientMort A Rickconvenient Mort]]": Played with. The camera lingers on the door after Morty does his DoorSlamOfRage, and then again after he comes back through and does it again, but the second time he doesn't repeat it.

A common variant of this trope is used to lighten otherwise tense moments. In these cases, a heated argument between two characters will be followed by one angrily storming out, before ducking back in through the door to deliver a funny line or humorously retrieve some object they left behind. Doing this can serve to "defuse" a tense moment; by following the argument with a joke, the work communicates that the previous incident isn't actually that serious and that the audience doesn't need to interpret it as a strongly negative development in the relationship of the two characters involved. An inversion of this can occur when the remaining characters and audience both expect the departed character to return but they don't, emphasizing the serious tone of the situation.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'': A variant. When Judy leaves her apartment in Zootopia for the first time, the camera lingers on her Foxaway repellant she left behind on a table. Moments later the door reopens with Judy reaching for the can.

** Indy and his friends have boarded a plane just moments before the Chinese gangster Indy has angered show up. Indy throws a mocking grin of "Nice try, Lao Che." He then shut the door... letting the audience see the words LAO CHE AIR FREIGHT stamped on the side. Lao and his son are literally laughing as they mockingly wave to the pilots.

-->'''Mr Hamilton:''' Just go out there and see if he knows how to fix me a Waldorf Salad!\\
'''Basil:''' Of course. (Goes into kitchen, reappears almost at once) He's not absolutely positive, he's almost got it. Lettuce and tomato, walled in with...

* ''WebAnimation/DrHavocsDiary'': In Episode 27, when Kim storms out of couple's therapy after it gets too heated, she momentarily comes back to collect her purse before leaving for good.

!!Examples

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