LEGO lightning would be wicked cool.

Nah, don't make lightning out of the single LEGO lightning piece, build a big tower of white pieces shaped like lightning and shine a light on it.

You don't need clear pieces, opaque white bricks will do just fine. If the background is dark, you should be able to illuminate the white pretty well on its own. Though clear white bricks would look great.

Maybe even use clear blue pieces?  And I make i-screen airborne effects two ways: 1) attach a post between a flying object and a wall, or 2: use clear bricks or the 1x2x2 panels beneath the flying object.