Basically Trying to Make a Bacta Tank in AE CS5

[Ocean Byrne]

What is a “Bacta Tank”?

You could try to get some caustics footage from somewhere, or maybe make some with the grid tool and Turbulent Noise and Displace, and then mask the caustics onto your character. Possibly using the character layer as an Effects>Distort>Displacement Map on the caustics would help distort them about his/her shape…

Maybe some bubbles in front (footage or particle systems) and a subtly moving Turbulent Displace on top of the whole shebang…

[Chelsea Guy]

It’s a thing from Star Wars. Basically one character floating in a cylinder full of water. I just don’t know what else to call it.

[Steve Bentley]

Actually if it’s full of what ever flavour mark hamill likes to float around in, you don’t actually see the liquid as liquid. What sells it are the bubbles, the bouncy boyancy, the envrionment around it being lit by causitcs and just that overal fish tank lighting, and the index of refraction of glass and liquid distorting the half naked body inside.
The lens effect will get you partway there for the distortion. Particular does great bubbles that expand and wiggle as they float up through the water (sadly you have to mimic the reflections the bubbles have unless you also have element3D which can map reflections (although now that I say that you might be able to get as proper reflection out of the sphere particle in particular))
And don’t forget micro floaties. These you don’t really notice but they scream liquid suspension. and don’t forget the reflections on the glass tube – these can be mimiced in AE even without Element.