I was hoping someone more knowledgeable than me would answer but I guess I'll chime in. For hiding elements you aren't using in the sequencer they should be collapsable within the hierarchy so it should be easy to hide things like fingers that are far down the chain. You can hide objects in the view finder by unchecking the "Show Object in 3D View" box in the properties dialog--that way it will still render but won't take up any redraw time when previewing.

I hope that helps