Experiencing Interruptions?

First Purple Light

As dawn breaks, a woman puts an end to an abusive relationship.

  • Jefferson Berry
    Author
    Locks and Guns, We'll Soon Be Together
  • Jefferson Berry & the Urban Acoustic Coalition
    Name of Band or Artist
  • Ciro Ayala
    Director
    Locks and Guns, We'll Soon Be Together
  • Jefferson Berry
    Writer
  • Charlie O'Hay
    Writer
  • Jefferson Berry
    Producer
  • Matt Muir
    Producer
  • Jefferson Berry
    Key Cast
    "Story Teller, Guitar Player"
  • Bud Burroughs
    Key Cast
    "Mandolin Player"
  • Dave Brown
    Key Cast
    "Lap Steel Player"
  • Mike Damora
    Key Cast
    "Bass Player"
  • Project Type:
    Animation, Experimental, Music Video, Short, Web / New Media
  • Runtime:
    3 minutes 58 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    March 1, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    3,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • California Music Video Awards
    San Francisco
    February 12, 2024
    Best Folk Music Video
Distribution Information
  • DiscoKid
    Distributor
    Country: Worldwide
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Ciro Ayala

Jefferson Berry & the Urban Acoustic Coalition combines story telling in the Urban Folk tradition with the intricacies of JamBand and Roots instrumentation. Playing a variety of guitar styles, Berry’s projects bring a danceable style and contemporary point of view to Philadelphia’s local music scene. With the release of his third album in four years, this reputation is spreading nationally.

Berry’s lyrics are informed by his years in corporate media followed by a dozen years teaching African American History, Economics and Government to inner-city Philadelphia high school students. Symeer Woods (aka Lil Uzi Vert) and the late Rasheen Jones (aka Runup Rico) were among his students.

"Yes, there are singers, songwriters, and storytellers. Jefferson Berry is all three.” American Blues Scene

"Berry’s guitar playing is emotionally instinctive, as he uses both rhythms
and melodies to buoy the intricate storytelling of the lyrics.”
Americana Highways

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

First Purple Light
by Jefferson Berry & the UAC

First Purple Light is a song from the 2023 Prairie Fire album by Jefferson Berry & the UAC, their third album in four years. It is also third video collaboration between Jefferson & Provoke Film’s Ciro Ayala. It is the First-Ever all A.I. Folk Music Video.

Coming off of their Best Folk Music Video win at the California Music Video Awards for We'll Soon Be Together, First Purple Light exposes the scourge of domestic violence in our society. While beautiful, this video may be disturbing (or even triggering) for some folks. The project supports the Domestic Violence Hotline.

For this video, Jefferson Berry scripted the A.I. storyboard and, along with the lyrics of the song, Art Director Ciro Ayala applied six different A.I. programs to execute that script. Joe Schufreider managed the camera and lighting of the band’s performance which was shot at Lafayette Hills Studios just outside Philadelphia.

“The pretty music draws you in nice and easy with its twinkling mandolin and acoustic guitar and it’s a song of sunrise, until things take a deeper, darker more somber turn just as the first birds of daylight have begun their singing. It’s a song of bruises, justice and redemption. As it is placed here against a background of Jefferson and the band, and visuals that are at once clearly AI but also capture the essence of the tale in startling accuracy, it’s also a pioneer in the AI age that’s right around the corner for us all.” -- Americana Highways

When approaching social justice themes with my songwriting, I’ve come to see story telling as more than just lyrics and musical arrangements. Americana Folk will always be about story telling, but with the Domestic Violence that “First Purple Light” exposes, Artificial Intelligence makes these kinds of stories vivid and the healing more apparent. -- Jefferson Berry