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HINGE has unveiled its new dating app with The Dating Apocalypse, an animated campaign created by the STUDIO. 

The New York based digital production company has helped HINGE reveal some of the horrors of modern dating apps with a beautiful, animated online film. 

Set to the soundtrack of Heart’s What About Love, the video is both the unveiling of HINGE’s rebrand and the launch of the company’s new app, which completely does away with the now commonplace swiping feature. 

The campaign plays on a term last year, who proclaimed that we’re living through a Dating Apocalypse, in a scene that has been crippled by swiping apps.

Tired of this mindless swipe culture, HINGE - working in collaboration with Red Antler - approached the STUDIO, who were tasked with bringing an animated story about the Dating Apocalypse to life. 

On the campaign’s concept, Mary Nittolo, Founder and CCO of the STUDIO, explains: “It was extraordinary to have a project where we had the opportunity to create parallel universes - the dysphoric world of compulsive and unfulfilled relationships and the idealized place where real connection happens. After we were locked on the animation, the HINGE team suggested adding the references to iconic film romances. They were a brilliant touch - they added a delightful, fairy tale feel to the HINGE world. The HINGE team were amazing clients. At one of the reviews, Katie Hunt, HINGE’s CBO, was actually moved to tears.” 

The story itself follows a hapless hero who forgets how to interact with people, swiping his hands in front of potential love interests instead of engaging with them. Growing tired of ‘Date-O-Pocalypse’, he escapes through an exit, meeting a girl in ‘HINGE world’ who snaps him out of his dating daze. 

“To capture the character’s subtlety, we hired actors - specifically two that were in a relationship - and recorded their performances with the HINGE team and ourselves directing the action,” explains Mary. 

An 18-strong team of artists worked on the project, comprised primarily of the STUDIO staff alongside a small supplement of freelancers. Starting the project in July, the team went through multiple rounds of character designs and concept art in an attempt to capture the correct style for the piece.

For the rides, which include Cycle of Loneliness, Catch a Catfish and The One Nighter, the team retained a lot of creative freedom to create tongue-in-cheek attraction that, for the most part, remained the same as the initial sketches. 

“These are the kind of projects I love,” adds Mary. “It was a real collaborative effort to make this project happen on schedule considering the other projects we were already committed to. Our team is so amazing — polymaths really, because several people produced extraordinary work outside of their typical discipline.”

Along with the animated film, the STUDIO collaborated with HINGE to create social media content, including a series of memes, GIFs, videos and promotional trailer, and a press kit, entailing a gift box with a full map of the Dating Apocalypse carnival and a ticket to “Escape the Games and Find Something Real”.

The campaign is live now and can be seen here: