Fictional universe and themes of the Neon franchise

Style
The world inside the film is influenced by steampunk, art deco and cyberpunk aesthetics, while the film's narrative style is filled with mystery, crime, thriller, noir, drama and action elements.

Worldbuilding through sound
In several scenes in Neon, usually featuring the character of Emerald, there were hints of the Elvis Presley song "Suspicious Minds" playing in the background, primarily the notes. Stuart Shertick mentioned in an interview how the song is meant to signify the relationship between Ashley and Emerald, saying "Ashley doesn't trust Emerald purely because she is portrayed as evil, it's because of her prejudice, which was influenced by the bias from the people she thought she could trust. [Suspicious Minds] is supposed to highlight Emerald's feelings from being discriminated for being her rebellious self, which is also highlighted by using terrorism to put people in the same spot as she is; scared, powerless, misunderstood."

The film also utilized the method of only using clips of music that, according to Brad Evans and Shertick, "feel unfinished because there is nothing in this world too beautiful to not be tainted by the dystopia that is Neo Paris, in fact, the more perfect and beautiful, the worse". This inspired Denis Villeneuve to do the same in his film Blade Runner 2049.

"Motherly Love"
The original song "Motherly Love", composed by Evans, was written and tested in a way that was supposed to evoke emotions of comfort and safety, "similar to being in a mother figure's arms", to be used in rather calmer scenes, most infamously in the scene where Ashley takes in a homeless mother, after seeing her care for her baby. The scene was written by Shertick after being inspired by Evans' idea during a brainstorm.