How to animate?

I have some basic animation questions.
See the picture below:



How do I make an animation where the object from the farthest left turns into an object to the farthest right? Note: bottom of the object doesn’t move, only the top.
Another question. See the picture below:


How do I animate bending of a bezier curve? Can that be done? If not, what is the other solution? I’m trying to animate a tube bending on more segments. What is the fastest and easiest technique?

btw. I plan to use blender internal for rendering.

shapekeyexample.blend (578 KB)

I would use this method for the first…

and this for the second…

Okay, Thanks Esskay. Will try with your method.