 
“Yeah, it’s my life in my own words, I guess.” Eminem begins his song, When I’m Gone by speaking those words in front of his colleagues. This song is one of Eminem’s most personal songs because it deals with his relationship with his daughter Hailie. He is recounting his struggles with his family, and all the internal conflict he went through. The story revolves around Eminem and his career and Hailie’s attempts to connect with her father. Eminem’s purpose for When I’m Gone is to tell Hailie that he loves her more than his job and will do anything to not lose her. The music video uses emotion capturing camera angles, gazes, and colors to coincide with the lyrics to help amplify Eminem’s message to Hailie that he sees her pain and he refuses to let his career tear them apart. 

 
The image above shows Eminem and his daughter Hailie using an over the shoulder shot. The shot captures Eminem and his daughter together as a family in a room surrounded by boxes. The two of them share an object-oriented attention as Hailie hands her dad a locket begging him to stay. This locket grabs both their gazes because it contains a photo of Hailie and her mother which she gives to her father so he remembers about his duty to his family. Along with the locket, a lot of emphasis is placed on Hailie’s and Eminem’s clothing. Both of them are wearing black and white striped clothing with some articles of red. The sharp vibrant red contrast with the grayish background, drawing attention to their similarity which symbolizes their unity and bond as a family. Red is an aggressive color that is associated with love and passion which is why Eminem uses red to show his love for his daughter. He wants to show Hailie how even though he would leave her for work, deep down he still cares for her, and their bond as father and daughter.

 
The second image is a still frame of Eminem on stage at a concert with an intra-diegetic gaze staring at his audience. The picture was shot using a medium shot for two reasons. The first is to show Eminem’s face and emotion when his daughter appears at his show and storms off saying goodbye to her father. Even though he has thousands of screaming fans, Eminem can only focus on what his daughter is saying. It pains him to see Hailie mad at him. At this point he is confused and beginning to questions himself. Eminem must choose between his career as a performer or his family. The second reason is to show the color red of his tie and pocket square, and the contrasting red and blue colors of the back curtains. As before, the red clothing represents his connection to his family and more specifically his daughter. Even when Eminem is out performing he wears red which says he always has Hailie on his mind. The dark blue color of the curtain however, represents Eminem’s rapping career. In the scene, the blue curtain over shadows the red curtain and eventually closes over it. This symbolizes his career taking over and closing the bond between Eminem and his family. 

Eminem’s relationship with Hailie slowly drifts apart throughout the song and eventually Eminem is left with a choice between his career or his family. The first image is a peaceful scene between Hailie and her father. The photo is accompanied by the lyrics, “But you ain't leaving no more, Daddy, you're mine (Eminem)." Hailie is trying to prevent her father from leaving to perform because he is beginning to distances himself. In the second photo we can tell from Eminem’s face that he is in shock from what his daughter is saying: “It's too late, Dad, you made the choice. Now go up there and show 'em that you love 'em more than us. That's what they want, they want you, Marshall, they keep Screamin' your name” (Eminem). Hailie is telling her father that she is done with “Marshall” because he is more of a father to his fans than he is to her. Here, Eminem realizes the he is drifting apart from his daughter and is causing her pain. Eminem states this at the beginning of the song; “What happens when you become the main source of a pain? "Daddy, look what I made!", Dad's gotta go catch a plane” (Eminem). His lack of attention for his daughter is the cause of her pain which drives Eminem to “kill off” his rapper alter ego known as Shady. After doing so, Eminem wakes up to a beautiful day where he finds Hailie swinging with her mother. They are again both wearing red showing how his family is reconnected again. “That's when I wake up Alarm clock's ringin', there's birds singin' It's Spring and Hailie's outside swingin' I walk right up to Kim and kiss her, tell her I miss her Hailie just smiles and winks at her little sister” (Eminem).

In the music video When I’m Gone, Eminem recalls his struggles with his family and how deep down he loves his family enough to give up his career for them. The first image shows Eminem’s daughter preventing her father from leaving. Hailie loves her dad and it hurts her to see him leave for shows and pay little attention to her. The second image is where Eminem finally realizes that his career is taking over his family life. Hailie’s pain is too much for Eminem to bare and he will do whatever it takes to relive her of it. He decides to give up his singing in order to rebuild his bond with Hailie and her mother and to prove his love for them. Eminem ends his message to Hailie with one final request where he ask Hailie to push through her pains and remember her father loves her. “Just know that I'm looking down on you smiling and I didn't feel a thing, so baby Don't feel no pain, just smile back” (Eminem). 
 