The NeoN House Productions Premiere saw its first digital rendition on the NeoN House YouTube channel Friday.
According to Alex White, NeoN’s general manager, the network had to adapt to social distancing regulations, which meant that they could not proceed with their original premiere plans.
“Normally, the organization would show the short films and shows that volunteers and staff have been working on [Georgia State’s] campus at Cinefest. But with the university forced to move online, we had to adapt to a digital premiere,” White said.
The stream premiered three projects from NeoN and also showed two NeoN classic films: “It’s a great place to work” and “Dirt.”
Kai Stephenson is a graduating senior at Georgia State and the post-production lead for NeoN. He directed and acted in the short film “Channel 6 News,” which was written by his long-time friend Max Kenton.
The film first premiered at Campus Movie Fest in February, where it won the award for Best Editing, and Stephenson brought home the award for Best Actor. They are now moving forward to the national competition in June where they hope to place as well.
“Channel 6 News” was filmed on the Pather Report News set and features Stephenson playing a newscaster named Bark Mecker, a humorous play on the name of Georgia State University President Mark Becker. The beginning of the film shows Stephenson’s character conducting an interview with an eccentric tin foil artist named Tin F. Oil.
In the middle of this bizarre interview, Mecker gets a call from a field reporter named Shelby Summers reporting that UFOs have made appearances all over the globe. She then, hilariously, gets attacked by an alien. Mecker and Oil prepare for the imminent extraterrestrial attack by saying their last words into the camera before the alien attacks and the newsfeed goes dark.
Ja’niyah Blanton-Carter is a staff writer and director at NeoN who created the series “Dating-ish.” The series takes inspiration from shows such as “Drunk History,” where people tell their outrageous stories that actors then reenact. In this case, college students recall their interesting dating experiences.
“I created this concept based off of the dating experiences that I’ve had while I’ve been in college like on Tinder [or other online dating sites],” Blanton-Carter said.
The episode told the story of Devon and Marissa who had been dating for two years. Devon worked at a movie theater that Marissa frequented, and he eventually built up the courage to ask for her number. After two years together, Devon still hadn’t met his girlfriend’s family and they agreed to wait until marriage to have sex. But, one day, they both decided to break that rule.
He booked a hotel room for one night since they were both still living with their families. Right before they were about to have sex, Marissa revealed to Devon that she was a transgender woman. Feeling deceived, Devon tearfully said that he left and never spoke to Marissa again.
Wy’Kia Frelot is an assistant writer and director at NeoN who created the series “Freshman Confessionals,” which focuses on the stories of incoming freshmen and the “problems and complexities” of starting college. Frelot was inspired by personal experiences and the relatability that the show could provide.
The episode featured a pre-med freshman named Brooklyn, who is more than ready to take on the college experience. But college was far more difficult than she ever expected.
She gets home from a particularly long day and starts to take a nap in her dorm room when her older brother calls her saying that he is in town.
They decide to go have coffee together and Brooklyn explains her academic difficulties. She says she failed all of her tests and homework because she’s unfamiliar with the websites her teachers were using. She is considering giving up, but her brother encourages her to keep going and push through.
Between the different projects featuring hilarious antics and highlighting aspects of the college experience, the NeoN premiere offered a platform for Georgia State creatives to showcase their diverse content to students at home.
