Obviously, that was the "quick-and-dirty" way to approach this type of shot, but that is what this forum is for.

Lets hear any other ideas that could help others attempting this kind of shot in the future.

I'll start:

- If you watch the effect in the movie, you'll note that it happens REALY FAST!
This means that you only need to animate the effect in Maya to a small handfull of frames.

-Also take note of HOW the effect looked.
(see attachment below)
(also thanks to whoever sent this to me a while back!)

Next!