Flash Intro Video - File Size - Help

Hi,

I am having an issue with one of the websites I am creating for a client. I am doing a flash intro video that is 4 minutes long, followed by a screen allowing them to play either of the 4 segments of video. The problem is, the video is very very long, and is a huge file size. I am only halfway done it and it is huge...If you would like to see the file, please let me know and I can show you. I am wondering if anyone has any recommendations as how to best make the file as small as possible. What it is, in theory, is a slideshow on the right of images that fade in, and on the left, bullets that come out matching the words spoken on the audio clip.

I have shrunk the images and made the audio 12.5% of its original quality (still good). Is it possible to build a loader into the file that shows the % it has loaded, and then play once it is? How might I do that?

Another issue I am having, is that the when I navigate away from the page the audio continues to play, but the flash file stops, so when I navigate back the timing is way off.

Any suggestions would be great!

Thanks

Mike