I just busted out the manual for AE 3.1 and it says the same thing as 5.0 which is what Greg answered. You dont even need to find and open the first frame...you can open any frame and if you select it as a sequence it will open the whole thing up. Go find your boss and beat him until he lets you buy after effects 5.0. You will be amazed at the difference. Its like the jump from photoshop 4.0 to 5.0. Can you remember photoshop w/o the history brush? That sucked! I would however experment...you will probably have to import it premultiplied with color (black) or with an inverted alpha. I wish there was a standard all programs use..avid, carrara, ae...I never remember wich program needs what kind of alpha.