I'm doin' a similar thing at the moment. My final year degree film is made using Maya and this is the first time I've used it!! Sounds crazy, I know.

I would advise working out how you best learn things.

For example, do you like reading about it, then doing it? Do you prefer reading then doing it for yourself?

Or maybe you prefer seeing how it's done and do it for yourself.

There's a ton of stuff to help you learn Maya.

Personally, the videos are the best options. There's some great ones on here, on Digital tutors and from Gnomon.

There's some good books too. The Maya foundation is a good base to start from - but so too are the videos and a set of your own notes.

Use the many forums out there. But don't post every problem you get, otherwise you won't get the satisfaction and confidence building by trying to solve something yourself.

As for the length, I don't want to sound negative, but I think it may be a little ambitious. Try aiming for 5-7 tops. Think carefully about no. of characters and settings as these have all got to be modelled/textured and more importantly, animated. You need to answer these questions before embarking on an ambitious project, otherwise you'll set yourself up to fail.

Try doing a couple of 'dummy' runs. Model a character, get him to walk. Then maybe get him to interact with an object. Iti'll give you a sense what good/bad workflow is and resolve any issues before you start the big project. It'll also give you an idea of how long rendering takes as well as compositing.

Good luck