Murom. The first scenes were shot on location in the middle of fields, forests and ravines despite the fact that the weather was forty degrees below zero. According to Boris Plotnikov the frost and the virginal snow were mandatory conditions which Vasil Býkaŭ had set out in his story. This approach was endorsed by Larisa Shepitko, according to whom the actors had to "feel the winter all the way down to their very cells" for a more reliable way of entering the character. Together with this, the filming process was planned in such a way that the actors started with the easiest acting in the psychological sense, and scenes which allowed them to gradually sink into their characters. From the outset Shepitko managed to inspire every co-worker with her idea; they understood the film to be about sacred things: motherland, higher values, conscience, duty and spiritual heroism. Her ability to enthrall her colleagues had already manifested before: Yuri Vizbor (lead actor in the movie You and Me) said: "We worked for Larisa, specifically, personally for her. She had faith and that was the reason. Faith in goodness and the need for our work, and it is this faith that was absolutely a material substance, which can be very real to rely on." In the harsh conditions in which the shoot took place, this factor was very important: extras and crew members were frostbitten, but no one complained. Shepitko herself did not ask for or require special treatment and her colleagues remembered her as an example of courage, faith, patience, and extraordinary care. For example, Boris Plotnikov was dressed very lightly and quickly grew numb from the cold and the piercing winds in the open field; but after the command "Stop! Cut!" the director came over to him to warm him up and to thank him. She also had to warm up Vladimir Gostyukhin who later wrote: "It was worth it “to die” in the scene to be able to feel her gratitude." He said that almost no one knew what effort Shepitko gave when shooting each frame. Sometimes Gostyukhin had to carry the director from the car to the hotel room by himself: Shepitko was sometimes not very physically well and occasionally her strength weakened. Long before The Ascent, Shepitko became ill with hepatitis on the set of the movie Heat. Ignoring advice to go to Moscow, she went on