This Story is Made Up of Over 5,000 Movie Taglines

Toronto-based artist Brian Joseph Davis has written a story. It’s a “story of two people.” A story “written in bullets, blood and blondes.” A story that “comes roaring across six thousand miles of excitement.” A story composed, entirely, of movie taglines.

For the project, Davis collected and organized more than 5000 movie taglines into a loose narrative, then hired voiceover artist Scott Taylor to read segments aloud.

The work, appropriately entitled “Voiceover,” isn’t a traditional story. Rather than follow a plot, the twenty-two page narrative deals in themes, like crime, romance, or adventure. Some of the most fun sections are held together by little more than repeated word choices or syntactical structures.

For instance, one section, loosely organized around a badass female protagonist, reads, “They say she kissed 2,000 men. She’s a one-mama massacre squad. She’ll put you in traction. She forced an entire lifetime of passion into one lust-filled summer. Tonight she will love again and kill again.” 

Ultimately, “Voiceover” tells the story of Hollywood's formulas and tropes, observing through repetition how films are made and marketed. On a simpler level, it's also fun to comb through it and find your favorite movies. Check out the written story on the avant-garde website UbuWeb, and listen to an excerpt from the voiceover version of “Voiceover” below.