Tried a quick idea and got this

[attachmentid=22222]


In case someone wants to play with it


[attachmentid=22223]

Model with pose, material applied twice once as color and once as displacement then action to animate both materials applied together and simple shape shifting and rotation folloing a path in chor oh and light overhead with expression to vary brightness..needs work

I was assigned another shot for now but when I get back to the Whirlwind shot, this is spot on.
I plan on modeling the shape with lots of cross sections for more control. I would want it to be very jagged and non uniform like and easy to control/shape like...

_****___
___*****
__*****_
_____***
___***___
__**_____
___*_____

and even more so with side rotations of the cross sections.
Thanks.