Movieclip in movieclip as hitbox referencing...HELP please

if (objects*.hitTestObject(ourShip))

   {
    trace(ourShip.x,ourShip.y) 
    } //The movieclip has a second layer called hitbox. Can I use this to test for hits as the current overall movieclip is too large? If so how do I go about making it work. Apologies for newbie post but just cannot find the answer that I can understand currently.regards FJW