The last episode of Ruttmann’s series, “Lichtspiel Opus IV”, is the purist and most minimalist of the four. A curled black and white pattern rhythmically multiplies a composite drawing of successive rectangles until an amorphous rounded figure appears, adding colour and interrupting the rectilinear fixity of the previous figures. The progressive development of this experimental series over four years, allowed Ruttmann to autonomously improve his animation techniques and study the musicality stemming from visual continuity. Compared to the other short films, “Lichtspiel Opus IV” most closely approximates the constructivist tenet of automatism. Working with overlapping elements, he builds patterns in movement that primarily reflect the corresponding relations between light and colour, or opposition between the horizontal and vertical, between the straight and curvilinear. Despite the emphasis on geometric figures throughout the various experiments, the handmade dimension of production in these films is reflected in the relative imprecision of its shapes. The result of each of these “Lichtspiel” or light games reveals the manual nature of a process that, in the flicker of projection, has the permanent capability to evoke multiple emotional reactions in the viewer. (SDM)