This work is a study of the evolution of audiovisual perception from the beginnings of cinema to the present day, when the YouTube generation begins. The mission of The Proof of the Real on the Screen is to remind us that we have never stopped simply representing what happened, even with the use of film or video. What the lens captures and is stored by a chemical or electronic technology is nothing more than captured light to which we, symbolic primates, give meaning. Being aware of this operation of acquisition and donation of meaning to images and sound is essential to study or make audiovisual works.