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.



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



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.



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