This short is a personal project I made as a culmination of a lot of the After Effects techniques I've learned up to this point.
In shot 1, the the wavy pool background was created using multiple layers of fractal noise, deep glow, and ripple. The sound effects in this shot especially helped sell the effects.
The idea of the woman looking up at the star is an image I've wanted to make for a while, and was the big visual moment of the short. She's entirely made of vector shape layer, but with deep glow and gradients to push her ethereal nature.
The final shot is meant to contrast with the previous shots grand and outer world aesthetic.