The various embodiments described herein include methods, devices, and systems for categorizing motion events. In one aspect, a method is performed at a camera device. The method includes: (1) capturing a plurality of video frames via the image sensor, the plurality of video frames corresponding to a scene in a field of view of the camera; (2) sending the video frames to the remote server system in real-time; (3) while sending the video frames to the remote server system in real-time: (a) determining that motion has occurred within the scene; (b) in response to determining that motion has occurred within the scene, characterizing the motion as a motion event; and (c) generating motion event metadata for the motion event; and (4) sending the generated motion event metadata to the remote server system concurrently with the video frames.