[Ætheros]

two things (this is from work with Flash 8 and flash MX 2004)
frames and tweens. Frames and keyframes are important to tell the difference between. when you add frams in the timeline, the most recent keyfram gets duplicated like one big l;ong frame (unless there are tweens) create a frame at about 5 on the timeline to see what I'm talking about. now at 10 or something, make a keyframe. see how it starts seperately? key frames are where you want something to happen. tweens cause animation to occur between keyframer.
try this:
1.create a new document
2.create a ball (just use the circle auoshape for now)
3.right click, and click convert to symbol.
4.set it as a movie clip, and name it.
5.NOW create a keyframe at 5 on the timeline in the layer containing the ball.
6.IN the keyframe, NOT in the other frames, move the ball. You can also stratch and change it's color. you can really do anything to it but for now just move it.
7.now highlight all of the frames in that layer (i think you can just select one of the frames in the frames before the keyframe, or maybe just the keyframe, but I'm not quite sure) and go the properties pane at the bottom of the screen
8. under tweens use the drop down menu and select motion (even if you changed it's color or size and whatnot)
9.insert frame at 15 on the timeline, so the keyframe lasts longer.
10.hit space to preview the animation
11.the ball should gradually move and animate, smoothly along th timeline (because of the motion tweening)
12. If it does not work right, and just cuts from one frame to the next, with no animation, check to make sure it's a symbol (the SAME symbol, on both the frame and the keyframe)
13. continue with this, add layers, make new shapes/objects, animate them and create movies.

a very simple tutorial I just wrote up, but I hope it helps anyway.