A collaborative animation short film Within these Walls was the outcome of an online animation course conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. This film was created by nine Masters of Design students, despite the constraints of living in different villages and cities across India. The objectives of the course were to understand the principles of animation and the animation production process. The pedagogical methods included a lecture on the principles of animation, warm-up exercises, curation of short films, and exquisite corpse filmmaking. The lecture on the principles of animation discussed the importance of animation guidelines and the warm-up exercises encouraged the students to perform micro-sequences of animation, prior to handling the complexities of an entire film. Screening of curated animation films exposed the students to a variety of content and mediums that could be used for animation. Exquisite corpse is a game in which participants take turns to write or draw on a sheet of paper by folding it to conceal their contribution, followed by passing it to the next player for further contribution. This technique has been used for innovative work using chance and juxtaposition to create new forms and meanings. Drawing inspiration from this method, the participants wrote five lines of a poem, where the first line ‘Within these Walls’ and the rhyming pattern was provided by the course instructor. Each student further animated their verse in a medium of their choice. The result was a cohesive film with different mediums, bound by a poem expressing the bittersweet experiences of the pandemic. A participant survey further validated that the learning objectives of understanding the principles of animation and the animation production process were achieved through this exercise. This study highlights the potential of online education towards innovative methods for a wide range of design projects.