Students in Shoreline High School’s video-production class might not have known the hits cranked out by the band The Presidents of the United States of America.

But when lead singer Chris Ballew graced the class with his presence on Jan. 18, connections were made.

“I think it’s cool we’re getting an opportunity to see the people who have these experiences,” sophomore Danniel Linn said. “I’ve been listening to Presidents since ‘95, when I was 6 years old.”

Ballew’s visit was at the request of the class’ teacher, Marty Ballew. Yes, they are related. It doesn’t hurt to have a famous uncle. Chris Ballew also got to show off the band’s latest venture, a music video for the song “Some Postman” shot solely with cell phone video cameras.

“It was a long day of doing the song at 1/3 speed,” Chris Ballew said. “We must have done it like 50 or 60 times.”

The video cameras on cell phones shoot at approximately 10 frames per second, while a normal video camera shoots at about 30. The video from the cameras was sped up to look normal. The finished music video is a collage of the images from 15 phones. Different squares were assembled and appeared disjointed.

Students also got to see the band’s other music videos, the majority of which came out in 1995 or 1996. Looks of familiarity on the teenagers’ faces washed the room as they watched videos that were popular while most of them were in first grade.

Senior Trevor Kelley approached Chris Ballew for an autograph.

“My best friend and I are huge fans and my favorite song is ‘Peaches,’ ” Kelley said after having Chris Ballew sign his hat. “I heard the song (“Some Postman”) on the radio yesterday. “

Chris Ballew’s main point for the aspiring film makers was effective use of narrative – the telling of a story. More importantly, don’t rely on it too much.

“I wanted them to understand that exposure, color and energy is more important than telling the story,” Chris Ballew said.

He left the class with one final piece of wisdom.

“Pretend that everybody (watching) is dumb and they have to be shown everything,” he said.