Moving backrounds Advanceflash.com

How are the moving backrounds made on www.advanceflash.com ?

What file formats and what programs

I was guessing animated gif? done in imageready and imported into flash???

How could this be done in 3ds max what file format would i save to, i tried b4 and the files were huge…like 20mb

are you talking about the water effect??

or the loading sequence ( just masks and alpha changes)

okay, the water / fire the effects…
those were made in either a 3d program or actual recorded video. After effects as well maybe (saved as an .avi and then imported to flash)

yes thats what i needed to know thanks so much

could this be done the same in premiere…if not what are the diffrences