I'm trying to create a clip of a woman standing in the middle of a field, with some wind picking up leaves, debris, etc., as it passes over the subject and she in turn begins to fade away.
Any suggestions? I've been playing around and haven't gotten much.

you need to create masks.(usually black and white)
one mask will be small parts in the wind.(black parts flying on white background (for example)
another one will be the shape of the person standing in the field.
one will be black, the other one will be white.
then you superimpose the 2 masks to get flying black particles into the white shape of the person.
You can add some motion blurr/trail/ghost to have the black particles leave a grey trace on their trajectory.
after that, you can use this mask to erase the person, discovering the background behind (obviously , you must get it, because it could be tricky to recreate).
each particle will act like an eraser.
The problem is you need enough particle to erase the person or add a fade effect to help for total diseappearance.
frankly this kind of job must be planned from the start to make it possible.

Hi Andrew,

Yo ucan use Wondertouch particleIllusion or Trapcode Particular to create moving particles (leaves, debris) and composite those in.

You will need to mask and track the woman to have "stuff" move behind her (this will be time consuming). Greenscreening the woman may be an easier option in future shoots.

It would really help if you had a shot of the field without the woman in it so you don't have to recreate the background as she fades away. If the background is static even a still would work. Basically you fade/disolve between the shots.

You can also use the alpha channel functionality of PI or TP to create 'fancy' disolves.

George/

I think also to help with something like this you need to give yourself a few angles.
Shoot it a few times. from a few different angles. a few cutaways of leaves and hands fading etc. will all ad to the drama of it.
And like George said , keep every shot during the 'disappearing' static and move the person out of it and shoot again for layer 2.
Then its just a matter of trying out different transitions & masking techniqes (Girouds sounds cool) until your happy with the result.
And its true, Plan, plan, plan. A good storyboard is your lifeline if you want to pull this off properly.
Also ( I keep adding to this), dont stylise a thing (film look etc.,) until your finished. Thats the Icing.

Ger

Wicked guys, I'll start with all your tips in mind and keep you posted.