FP – 1. Brainstorming and Selection of Ideas

Based on the theme of Food, our team came up with the following ideas for our final project:

1. Junk Food (Storybook)
– Main character likes to eat junk food
– Gets obese and falls sick
– Learns to eat healthy

2. Food Wastage (Storybook)
– Main character has the habit of wasting food
– Enters into a dreamland where food comes alive
– Learns that the growth process of food is arduous

3. Food Pyramid (Comic)
– Main character day dreams during health education class
– Enters into a dreamland, where he/she explores a (food) pyramid
– Learns about the components of the food pyramid and the importance of a balanced diet through his adventure

4. Genetically Modified (GM) Food (Comic – science and technology of food)
– Main character visits a GM food factory and wanders into the restricted areas
– Discovered the ugly truth of GM food production
– Due to an accident which befell the main character, this truth is eventually exposed to the public

We felt that ideas #1 and #2 were too common and would not stand out very much. As we wanted to do something unique and different, we were more attracted to ideas #3 and #4, which were adventure-based and would allow for a more dynamic and engaging storyline.

Idea #3 would be an archaeological adventure in an ancient Egyptian setting (linking the idea of a real pyramid and a food pyramid), with the appeal of classic Hollywood hits such as Indiana Jones. We felt that it was quite an interesting twist on an educational concept.

However, we decided on idea #4 as the theme itself is pretty special, on top of having the engaging appeal of a sci-fi adventure. The story would centre around the theme of the science and technology of food, particularly the potential ethical problems associated with advancements such as GM food. Mankind is constantly striving to produce more food to feed our growing population, thus we feel that this issue is very relevant to our society, and fostering awareness of it among the younger generation is meaningful. The moral of the story is quite sophisticated and not conveyed in a very direct form–the reader is simply led to reflect about the issue through the events of the story. Thus, we decided that our end product should be a comic for teenagers as they would be better able to grasp the concept and think deeply on it.