Visitors dress as aliens to lift the spirit on day of Mayan prophecy

(21 Dec 2012) SHOTLIST
1. Mid of men dressed in "alien" costumes, made of tin foil, speaking to people in village
2. Close-up of "alien antennas" being worn by man
3. Pan across from media to "aliens"
4. Close-up of men in costume
5. Mid of men in costumes holding bottles of beer
6. SOUNDBITE: (French) Man in "alien" costume, name not given:
"We are here to amuse you, the media needs to film something. You have been here for four days now, so we thought we would give you a reason to be here."
7. Mid of people sat on steps of building with bags
8. Wide of people talking in street
9. Tracking shot of villager taking plastic funnel off his head
10. SOUNDBITE: (French) Claude Fosse, visitor from Perpignan:
"This is a media circus, it's all being done for the village to be known, the bet has been won, because Bugarach is now famous on national, european and global levels. Bugarach is now known world wide." (laughs)
11. Tracking shot of police officer pulling over vehicle at village checkpoint
12. Wide of entrance to Bugarach, village sign
13. Mid of police helicopter flying over Pic de Bugarach mountain
STORYLINE:
"Aliens" turned up on Friday in a French village, rumoured to be the sole place on earth to avoid destruction during Friday's feared apocalypse.
The two men, dressed in tin foil and wearing fake antennas, entertained villagers and a pack of media that had assembled in Bugarach for the end of a 5,125-year Mayan calendar - which some thought may spell the end of time.
A giant UFO and aliens are said to be waiting under the Pic de Bugarach mountain, ready to burst through and spirit those nearby to safety.
The heavy presence of media disrupted the everyday lives of some locals, but for others, it represented a chance to joke about the supposedly pending doomsday and the legends that surround the mountain peak rising steeply above the village.
"We are here to amuse you, the media needs to film something. You have been here for four days now, so we thought we would give you a reason to be here," one of the men dressed in an "alien" costume told the assembled journalists.
Bugarach, in the French Pyrenees, had been braced for the arrival of hundreds of New Age enthusiasts.
But there was bad news for those seeking salvation: French gendarmes, some on horseback, blocked outsiders from reaching the peak and its village of some 200 people.
"This is a media circus, it's all being done for the village to be known, the bet has been won, because Bugarach is now famous on national, european and global levels," said Claude Fosse, a visitor from Perpignan.
As the sun rose from time zone to time zone across the world on Friday, there was still no sign of the world's end - but that did not stop those some people gathering at some of the globe's purported survival hot spots.
Many of the esoterically inclined expected a new age of consciousness - others wanted a party.


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