To induce narrative tension in the viewers, withholding information about a setup's outcome is necessary. One of the most common ways to do this is by making people think something game-changing has happened just to reveal at the very last second it hasn't. Alternatively, the event is this close to taking place but is dodged every time. This is a Near Miss.
Chances are, this will be used for dramatic effect; you thought the character was run over by a car but, oh, the smoke clears and it becomes evident the character jumped to the side at the right moment. Comedic cases, however, aren't uncommon at all, with the punchline often being the ridiculous way in which the character managed to miss the event.
Of course, a near-miss can also mean that the event did happen, just not in enough of a plot-changing way. For instance, the long-awaited Will They or Won't They? couple is about to kiss but then the girl backpedals and only kisses her love interest's cheek. Or the bullet hits the character, just not in a vital organ or anything that could spell instant death.
Looks like a broad concept? Well, it is; that's why it has a myriad of sub-tropes:
- A-Team Firing: Nobody gets hit by bullets, no matter how much gunfire is exchanged.
- Almost Kiss: Two characters are about to kiss before suddenly being interrupted by something.
- Amusingly Awful Aim: A character's woeful accuracy is Played for Laughs.
- By Wall That Is Holey: A wall falls on you, but doesn't hurt you because you pass through a hole or window on it.
- Close-Call Haircut: A part of somebody's hair gets cut off during a struggle, usually by a bullet.
- Diving Save: Jumping and plowing someone out of the way to save their life.
- Hat Damage: The character's headgear gets hit to show how close the projectile is to being lethal.
- Hero-Tracking Failure: The hero is always one step ahead of the villain's gunfire.
- Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Mooks are lousy shots when trying to hit the heroes.
- Knife Outline: Dodging sharp projectiles one by one while being unable to move away from the wall.
- Missed Him by That Much: Two characters just barely miss running into each other.
- Near-Miss Groin Attack: A subversion of Groin Attack is Played for Laughs.
- Smoke Shield: An attack's aftereffects obscure whether the target was hit, expect it to emerge unscathed somehow.
- Standard Hollywood Strafing Procedure: The goodies are in the middle of two lines of cannon fire.
