Watch: The Doorway Shot in Film Points Outwards and Inwards at the Same Time

If a director places a figure standing in a doorway, looking off into the distance, where does the viewer’s gaze go? Invariably, it will both go through the doorway, towards all that lies beyond it, but it will also, in a strange way, go back inwards, towards all a character may be turning away from or leaving. This new video compilation by ever-prolific Jake Swinney for Fandor takes us through doorway shots from cinema history, starting with John Ford’s ‘The Searchers,’ which contains the grand-daddy of all doorway shots, and then moving on to directors such as Paul Thomas Anderson, Quentin Tarantino and others.