newbie spotlight/sliding curtains/scrolling img gallery help

What I need to do is fairly simple, but i've only used flash on rare occassions and really need a hand to go in the right direction instead of mish mashing stuff from tutorials then end up not working when i put it together in the end.
as you can see, i've already done the artwork for the site. so a major hurdle is overcome. i know, it looks cheesy...lol

i would like to do some spotlight animation where the spotlights move around on the curtains. this will be the main page.

http://itwonthurt.com/files/flash/FRONT-PAGE.gif

when users click on the left menu and choose a category, a preloader animation will play...

http://itwonthurt.com/files/flash/LOADING-PAGE.gif

when it's finished loading the curtains will open to reveal the fist picture in the gallery while the right side has a vertical auto scrolling gallery that will scroll through the pics in the gallery. when the user moves the cursor to the arrows on the right it will speed up.

http://itwonthurt.com/files/flash/PR...OM-IMAGE-2.gif

so, it seems simple enough, but i need some suggestions to get started. your help is much appreciated.