Then your course leader is foolish, if they had any concept of the timeframes involved this wouldnt be expected of you. You can do fantastic stories with very little animation. You just have to really think outside the box (pardon the expression) look at shorts like jo jo and the stars. You have to push a strong appealing style in a strong simple narrative (dont do action, seriously not going to happen in your time frame).

I recommend you have words with your tutition staff about this project, its completely unrealistic considering your level of expertise.