  
“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 is one of Eminem’s most personal songs because it deals with the complex relationship between him and 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 that he refuses to allow his career to sever the bond him and Hailie share.

 
The image above shows Eminem and his daughter Hailie using an over the shoulder shot. The shot captures the two together as a family from the audience’s point of view. Both of them share an object-oriented attention gaze as Hailie hands her father a locket begging him to stay. This locket grabs both Hailie’s and Eminem’s attention because it contains a photo of Hailie and her mother. She gives this locket to her father as a reminder about his duty to his family. Along with the locket, plenty of emphases 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 draws attention to their similarity. The colors that the two share are used to 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 it 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 both her and their family. This image combines the camera angles, gazes, and colors in this scene to express the father-daughter relationship shared between Eminem and Hailie.

 
The second image is a still frame of Eminem on stage at a concert. He shares an intra-diegetic gaze with his audience: looking both shocked and confused. The picture was shot using a medium shot for two reasons: 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 disappointed at him. At this point, he is baffled and beginning to questions himself. Eminem must choose between his career as a performer or his family. The second reason the medium shot is used is to show the color red of his tie and pocket square; as well as the contrasting red and blue colors of the back curtains. Just as before, the red clothing represents his connection to his family and more specifically his daughter. The dark blue color of the curtain, however, represents Eminem’s rap career. In the image above, the blue curtain overshadows the red curtain and eventually closes over it. This symbolizes his career taking over and closing the bond between Eminem and his family. The camera angles used in the second image combined with the contrasting colors help relay Eminem’s feelings for his relationship with his daughter.

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 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 ruining their relationship and 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. When the images are combined with the lyrics, Eminem’s internal battle between his family and career is exposed and his decision to choose his daughter shows his love for her and their family.

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. In the first image, the over the shoulder shot showing Hailie and her father is used to capture the two together as a family.  In the photo, Eminem’s daughter is trying to prevent her father from leaving and pay a little attention to her. The second image uses a medium shot to clearly capture Eminem’s shock as he comes to the realization that his family is drifting apart. Here is where Eminem finally realizes that his career is taking over his family life. Both images share the color red in common.  The music video uses the color red to represent Eminem’s relationship and bond with his daughter. Red is a color of love which expresses how Eminem feels about Hailie. The lyrics used in the video coincide with the messages displayed with the images. Through the use of unique camera angles, contrasting colors, and lyrics from When I’m Gone, Eminem gets his message across to Hailie is that their relationship is more important than his career.   
 