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Nanoindentation was performed on plasma-deposited nitrogen-rich silicon nitride thin films deposited on various substrates between 150 and 300°C. A very simple and effective depth-profiling method is introduced, which involves indentation of thin films deposited on substrates with different mechanical properties. The primary advantage of this method is that it avoids the complications associated with many of the complex mathematical models available to deconvolve thin film mechanical properties, while nevertheless allowing the user to visually identify thin film properties. This method is demonstrated on our thin films, which have a hardness between 14 and 21GPa, and reduced modulus between 120 and 160GPa. The initial rise in hardness at low contact depths, commonly attributed to an indentation-size effect, is shown to be due to elastic contact between the indenter and thin film surface. This demonstrates the perils of blindly following the 10% rule for hardness calculation. The contribution of elastic and plastic deformations from nanoindentation is used to clarify the physical meaning of hardness and reduced modulus.