I want to create a video for the teachers at my school that is "hip" and "cool" and "groovy." They are obviously impressed by the pretty lights but I wanted to do something interesting. I want to recreate the Snatch intro for them, which was also seen an episode of the Boondocks when Ed and Rummy robbed Ed's dad's bank, not the spinning and the invisible cuts stuff but the zoom in picture plates with the adjusted colored backgrounds.

I've only got Vegas 8 and Photoshop Elements 6 with me now... if I was at home it would be After Effects (learned how to use it and upgraded) and FCP just because the workflow is alittle more familiar... I love Vegas but am still a newbie with it.

Any ideas?

Oh- impossible to shoot against a green screen!

oh come on...
help me out here!

not at all familar with the particular effect (specifically) but your description leads me to believe that Pan/Crop and Track Motion would get you the movement you desire (you might need to use 3D Track Motion) and the backgrounds could be anything you want. Try keyframing the color to change it.
Again, I've not seen the effect but it sounds like something that's very doable in Vegas.

Don